


Hey Helga!

by QueenAlicorn



Category: Hey Arnold!
Genre: 00’s, 90’s, Anger, Arnold - Freeform, Big Bob - Freeform, Big Bob Pataki - Freeform, Bob - Freeform, Bob Pataki - Freeform, Coma, Drinking, Episode: s05e16 Married (Hey Arnold!), F/M, Female Friendship, Friendship, Helga - Freeform, Hey Arnold! References, Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie, Hey Arnold!: The Movie (2002), Love, Loving bully, Miles shortman - Freeform, Miriam Pataki - Freeform, Nostalgia, Pataki, Reading, Start of the friendship, Stella shortman - Freeform, The rest of the story, Young Love, angry, diaries, drunk, friend, friends - Freeform, hate love, hey arnold - Freeform, locket, reading diary, supporting - Freeform, supportive
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:14:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 34,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27413329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenAlicorn/pseuds/QueenAlicorn
Summary: Before Helga went into a coma, she started writing the story of Arnold, a gift for their anniversary. But Arnold feels like something is missing; Helga. Arnold goes through Helga’s old diaries and rewrites the story of how they grew to love each other.
Relationships: Arnold/Helga
Comments: 19
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold or it's characters.

Note: This story is set after the Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie. But given the nature of this story, I am going through the series in chronological order. So, even if you are brand new to Hey Arnold! and have basic knowledge of the show, I welcome you. I welcome anyone who appreciates the shows I love.

Chapter 1,

"It was just a suggestion!" Helga shouted. They were on the roof of the boarding house, to have some privacy. But with the way Helga was yelling, Arnold was sure that all of downtown heard her.

"Look, I already told your father, I won't work at the Beeper Emporium. It's a dying business, and I don't want to be stuck under his thumb." Arnold said and Helga groaned.

"All I said is that dad thought you might have a few ideas to save that old business of his! That's all!" Helga said and Arnold walked up to her and got in her face.

"'That's all'? You said that in front of my mother, who thought it was a great opportunity. I don't know why I ever thought you would be a good girlfriend!" Arnold said and Helga gasped.

"Excuse me, what is that suppose to mean?" Helga asked and Arnold scoffed.

"I mean you keep pestering me to work for you're father, and you keep bullying me, I mean you barely let me hold your hand. It's like we aren't even a couple." Arnold said. They had been fighting for a little while, so Arnold was really worked up.

"Arnold... you don't know what you're saying." Helga said, hurt by his words.

"Stop telling me what I do or do not know, Helga. Do you know what I think? I think this relationship was a big mistake!" Arnold said. Helga lifted her hand up to her heart, as if to hold it together. Arnold didn't see this, though, because he turned his back towards her.

"Football head, you don't even know half the stuff I've done for you!" Helga shouted. She was always wonderful and throwing back some off comment. Sometimes she was a little too good at it.

"I'm sick of these lies, Helga! You claim to love me, but you're terrible to me! You claim to do nice things for me, but you always pull pranks on me! You claim to be my girlfriend, but you're just s bully! I don't think that I want to be with you anymore!" Arnold shouted and Helga gasped.

"But, Arnold-"

"Forget it, Helga! Go jump off a building for all I care!" Arnold said and he left the roof and went down to his room.

"Hey there, Shortman." Grandpa Phil said and Arnold sighed.

"Grandpa, please. I'm really not in the mood." Arnold said and Phil sat down on Arnold's bed and patted the seat beside him.

"Don't you think you're being a tad rough on Helga, kiddo?" Grandpa asked as Arnold sat down.

"Maybe a little, but I'm just so darn mad. Isn't it healthy to argue in a relationship, though?" Arnold asked and his grandpa paused to touch his face thoughtfully.

"Well, technically it can be healthy since it teaches you that you can get angry and make up with someone you love, and still be with them. And studies HAVE shown that couples who don't argue before they get married are twice more likely to get divorced... But Shortman, you told her to jump off a building and then left her alone on the roof." Phil said and Arnold blinked.

"So what? Helga's the toughest person I've ever met, and she really wouldn't jump off the roof, just because I said she could." Arnold said and Phil shrugged.

"Maybe, and maybe not, Shortman. You've seen her family, and how they treat her. She loves you with all her little heart, and if she thought you were being genuine, who knows what she would do." Phil said and Arnold was so angry that his face turned red.

"So what are you saying? If I want to stay with Helga, I need to let her push me around all the time?" Arnold asked and Phil sighted.

"Of course, not. All I'm saying is that maybe you should at least go up there and get her off the roof before she does something drastic." Phil said and this time Arnold sighed. He stood up and opened the window to the roof.

"-Back Right Now, You Feathered Rat!" Helga shouted and Arnold stared at her. She was chasing around a pigeon, for some reason. He didn't know why she was chasing it, until the sun glinted off a golden object the bird had in it's beak. It had Helga's locket.

"Helga, be careful!" Arnold said.

"What's wrong, Shortman?" Phil asked.

"A pigeon stole Helga's locker and she's chasing it around like a madman." Arnold said as he climbed unto the roof.

"Madwoman, Arnold." Phil said as he followed his grandson.

"Oh, just help me!" Arnold said.

"Helga, let it go! It's just a stupid locket!" Phil said and Helga gasped.

"It's not just a stupid locket!" Helga exclaimed, jumping to catch the pigeon in the air. It flew over to the edge of the roof.

"It's MY stupid locket!" Helga said, running towards the bird.

"Helga!" Arnold said when she jumped towards it.

"You just don't under- AHH!" The pigeon moved and Helga skidded off the edge of the building. She quickly grabbed the corner of the brick building, so she didn't fall to her death.

"Arnold!" Helga said when she felt her fingers slipping. Arnold and his grandfather rushes towards her, but they were a split second too late. Helga fell and crashed against the garbage can below. Arnold stared in horror, searching for any sign of life.

"Oh no. I'll call the ambulance, Shortman." Phil said, pulling the phone out of his pocket, and dialing the desired number. Arnold ran off the roof, out the front door, and over to Helga. He grabbed her hand and caressed her face.

"Helga?" Arnold asked. She was breathing, but she appeared to be asleep. He was deeply concerned about Helga; so when the ambulance came, he rode with her to the hospital.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! Or it's characters.

Chapter 2,

The word 'coma' comes from the Greek word 'koma'. A word that translates to 'Deep Sleep'. Also, there is more then one stage of coma; or more accurately, a coma is just one level of the disorders of consciousness. There's a coma, vegetative state, and the minimally conscious state. Of course, sometimes, the hospital will medically induce a coma in a patient to help the brain to rest and help keep the brain from swelling, if possible.

Overall, 94% of patients wake up from a vegetative state. Those who have 42% of their brain activity or higher should wake up within a year. But those under 42% will most likely stay in a coma for at least a year.

Arnold has been reading a lot about comas, for the past few days. Helga's parents blame Arnold for Helga slipping into a coma, and he really didn't blame them. He was grateful that they allowed him to visit Helga, though there were some ground rules. Arnold could sit beside Helga, but he wasn't allowed to talk to her, or hold her hand. And that's where Arnold was, when Phoebe walked into the hospital.

"I don't understand! You said it might take a few days before she wakes up, and it's officially been a week; and you said she hasn't improved at all!" Big Bob yelled at the nurse. Phoebe poked her head into the room and saw Arnold staring at Helga with such tremendous guilt. She felt sorry for the blond boy.

"Sir, please lower your voice. Loud sounds are bad for the patient." The nurse said calmly. Phoebe waved to Arnold, and seeing the sudden movement caught his attention and he turned to look at her.

"How could it be bad for her? If anything, yelling might actually get the loader out of bed." Bob still said this loudly, but he didn't yell it out. Phoebe gestured for Arnold to come over to her, and after a small moment of hesitation, Arnold got up and walked over to Phoebe.

"Hey Phoebe. What are you doing here?" Arnold asked as they walked away from Helga's room in order to hear each other speak.

"The Pataki's have asked me to read our textbook to Helga so she doesn't fall behind in her studies." Phoebe said and Arnold paused.

"Can she even retain the information you're telling her?" Arnold asked and Phoebe sighed.

"It's possible, but highly unlikely. I do it since it seems to mean so much to Helga's parents." Phoebe said and Arnold sighed.

"I wish they would trust me to do that. Then again, I wish they trusted me enough to fluff her pillow." Arnold said and Phoebe looked down the hall at Helga's room.

"I'll admit, it does look grim. I know that if Helga were aware of her surroundings, there are two things that would highly disappoint her." Phoebe said.

"Yeah. Her mother drinking down at the bar and her father screaming at everyone who glances towards Helga's room." Arnold retorted and Phoebe shook her head.

"Actually, I placed them together in one category. Helga would be disappointed in her parent's behavior and she would be disappointed in how much guilt you've placed upon yourself." Phoebe stated and for a moment Arnold was speechless. It didn't occur to him that Helga wouldn't like what he was doing to himself.

"Oh, Phoebe, I can't help it. I feel responsible for her getting hurt." Arnold said.

"And why is that?" Phoebe asked and Arnold shrugged.

"I'm the one who got mad at her, that means the fight was my fault. If we didn't fight, then she wouldn't have taken out that locket of hers, and the bird wouldn't have stolen it, and she wouldn't have hurt herself." Arnold said and Phoebe took a deep breath.

"I normally go to Helga's house after school to help take care of her monitor lizard. So when I was there, I brought something Helga was making for you." Phoebe said. She pulled off the school bag, Arnold didn't even noticed her wearing, and pulled out a light blue hardcover notebook.

"What's this?" Arnold said and Phoebe smiled.

"It's a story Helga was working on." Phoebe said and Arnold grabbed the books

"That's cool, what's it about?" Arnold asked and Phoebe giggled.

"The book is called 'Hey Arnold!'. It's all about you." Phoebe said and Arnold's eyes widened.

"What? Why me?" Arnold said. After the past 168 hours of near-constant guilt, he had a hard time believing that Helga would take the time to write out a story about him.

"Because she loves you." Phoebe said simply. That response took Arnold's breath away, and his mind went blank. The only thing that he could think to do was open the little blue book and read the first page.

"The voices of the children echoed down the street for all to hear. The sounds of them cheering, complaining, and of course competing against each other on the baseball diamond. And yet one of those players was spacing out, so deeply he might as well have been in orbit. This boy had on simple black shoes, blue jeans, a red plaid shirt, a green sweater over his shirt, and his signature blue cap atop his head. He had long blond hair on each side of the hat, that wonderfully matched the unique shape of his head; which resembled a football. His name was, is, and forever shall be, Arnold." Arnold read and Phoebe smiled softly.

"She wanted to make sure she started off with something you were sure to remember. So she started the story that day, where you hit Harold in the face with a baseball and he gave you 24 hours before he fought you." Phoebe said and Arnold looked down at the page.

"I guess that explains why this chapter is called 'Twenty Four Hours to Live'. Man, I almost forgot about that day, but look... Helga wrote this out in such detail." Arnold admired.

"She has some of her old poetry books and diaries in which she looked back on, to help with that. She wanted it to be as accurate as possible." Phoebe said. Arnold furrowed his brow and he quickly skimmed the available pages.

"Is something wrong Arnold? She hoped you would like it. She even searched until she found a notebook that was the same color as your hat." Phoebe said and Arnold hesitated.

"It's just... during our fight Helga said 'you don't even know half the stuff I've done for you'. This book is really sweet, and I really appreciate it, but..." Arnold bit his lip.

"But what?" Phoebe asked and Arnold stared at the book.

"I'm just wondering if... well, if anyone can tell the story of 'Arnold' without the story of 'Helga'." Arnold said and Phoebe blinked.

"Well... one could also say that you can't tell the story of 'Helga' without the story of 'Arnold'." Phoebe said and Arnold glances back at Helga's room.

"Phoebe, I just had an idea that might be wonderful but it could also be terrible." Arnold said and Phoebe rose an eyebrow at jinx

"What's the idea?" Phoebe asked and Arnold took a deep breath before answering.

"What if... um... I rewrote Helga's story." Arnold said and Phoebe gasped.

"Why on earth would you do that?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, if our lives are that intertwined, then Helga deserves to be in the story more... not just 'more' but together as equals. Half mine, and half her." Arnold said and Phoebe thought about this.

"The only way you could do that, is to read her diaries. I'm not sure how she would feel about that, even if you two are dating now." Phoebe said. Arnold looked back at Helga's room and in that moment he recalled the fight they had and Arnold's eyes started to well up.

"The last real thing I told Helga was to jump off a building. And now I can't even tell her I'm sorry." Arnold said and Phoebe has noticed a change in Arnold. He had dark circles under his eyes, his hair seemed thinner, like it was falling out, and he had lost noticeable weight this week.

"Have you eaten today?" Phoebe asked and Arnold struggled to remember.

"I think I ate an apple today. But that might have been yesterday, I'm not sure." Arnold said and Phoebe sighed. The whole reason she brought that little blue book was to try and make Arnold feel better, for Helga's sake. And if there was a chance that rewriting Helga's story will help Arnold, then perhaps Phoebe should allow it.

"I'll tell you what, Arnold, I'll make a deal with you." Phoebe said and Arnold stared at her with such hope.

"What is it?" Arnold said and Phoebe sighed.

"The Pataki's gave me a house key to let myself in, and I suppose you could borrow it while I'm here reading to Helga. That gives you two hours a day to read Helga's old diaries and take notes on what happened to her." Phoebe said and Arnold smiled widely.

"That sounds wonderful. What are the conditions?" Arnold asked.

"First, you have to take better care of yourself. It's the only reason I'm agreeing to this, so if you don't improve over the next few days, I'll revoke my key." Phoebe said and Arnold nodded.

"Fair enough." Arnold said.

"Second, you are only allowed to be there when I'm here. So you'll need to get the key from me before you go over there, and I expect to get it back the moment you are done." Phoebe said and Arnold nodded.

"That's reasonable." Arnold said.

"Third, you are not allowed to remove anything from the room. Also, the room must appear to be untouched. Which means, if you pick up something while you are there, you must put it back where it belongs." Phoebe said and Arnold nodded.

"Yes, yes, of course." Arnold said and Phoebe sighed.

"Lastly, I have the right to add rules or deny you the key whenever I decide to. Now... do you agree to my terms?" Phoebe asked and Arnold nodded again.

"I agree, Phoebe. Thank you." Arnold said. Phoebe reached into her bag and she pulled out a bento box.

"Mother forgot that it was Father's Day to make my lunch, so I have two. Take one, since you haven't eaten." Phoebe said and Arnold took the box out of her hand.

"Thanks." Arnold said and Phoebe went ahead and handed him the Pataki's key. Arnold turned to leave, but Phoebe grabbed his shoulder.

"Why don't you say goodbye to Helga before you leave. I saw the nurse kicking Mr. Pataki out of the room, so it should be nice and quiet." Phoebe said and Arnold let out a heavy sigh.

"I'd love to, Phoebe. But I promised Helga's parents that I wouldn't talk to her or hold her hand." Arnold said and Phoebe paused.

"You could kiss her forehead then. It's not talking or holding her hand." Phoebe said and they went over to the doorway together. The nurse was still in the room, checking the machines and writing the information down on the clipboard.

"Oh, I don't know." Arnold said.

"Arnold, Mr. Pataki is probably yelling on the phone outside, as usual, Mrs. Pataki is next door at Donald's Den having a drink and today is your anniversary with Helga. If you were gonna go out on a limb and rush kissing Helga, then today's the day." Phoebe said, doing her best to keep her voice down, but it was a difficult struggle.

Arnold's eyes widened when he heard these words, because Phoebe was right. Arnold entered the room and went over to Helga's bed. The nurse rose an eyebrow at his presence, but given his depressing body language, she allowed Arnold to get close to Helga.

The football head actually felt nervous when he reached over and caressed Helga's face. She almost appeared helpless in her hospital gown with tubes connected to her; even if it was Helga G. Pataki. Before he completely lost his nerve, he leaned in and sweetly kissed her warm lips. Keeping his promise not to speak, he mentally wishes Helga a 'happy anniversary' and then he walked out of the room.

"Hello, Phoebe." The nurse whispered and Phoebe carefully moved a chair closer to Helga.

"Hello, Nurse Precise." Phoebe whispered as she sat in the chair and placed her bag in her lap.

"Phoebe can you tell me who that boy is? I see him every single day, but he never says a word." Nurse Precise asked.

"That was Arnold, he's Helga's boyfriend. But Helga's parents don't want him talking to Helga and that's why he doesn't talk." Phoebe said and Nurse Precise blinked.

"Her boyfriend, and he's not allowed to talk to her? Well, that's not... hm?" Nurse Precise glances around the room, distracted.

"What are you doing?" Phoebe asked and the nurse turned back to Helga.

"I heard a sound... a... oh, look..." Nurse Precise said and Phoebe looked at Helga. They stared at the girl for about 30 seconds, until-

"Ar...d" Helga breathed out and Phoebe gasped.

"Oh, my, gosh. Helga is talking. She's saying Arnold's name. Is she waking up?" Phoebe asked and Nurse Precise hesitated.

"That's not really how coma's work, Phoebe. Helga's brain is not active enough for her to be conscious. However, this is the first time she's responded to Physical stimuli, which is very good." Nurse Precise said, writing something down.

"I better go tell the doctor about this. Wow, Arnold must mean a lot to Helga." Nurse Precise said, as she left the room. Phoebe looked at Helga and she felt her eyes watering.

"He means the world to her." Phoebe whispered as she wiped her eyes. Then she pulled out a textbook and started reading in Helga.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! or it's characters.

Chapter 3,

Arnold took a deep breath when he entered the Pataki home and looked around. It's not like he's never been to Helga's house, but he had never received the opportunity to soak it all in before. The first thing Arnold noticed was the baby grand piano. It looked like it had a little dust on it, so no one has played it for a while. Mr. and Mrs. Pataki don't seem like the type to play the piano, so maybe it belonged to Helga. Though Arnold did struggle to remember a time where he saw Helga playing the piano. It was then that Arnold looked up and saw trophy's lined up against the wall. There were dozens and dozens of trophies and Arnold quickly noticed that some of them had the name of Helga's older sister, Olga, on them. Actually it was a lot of them... most of them...

"Geez, are there any trophies that don't belong to Olga?" Arnold asked aloud and he sighed. Helga has to live in a world, surrounded by the constant reminder of her sister's accomplishments. Arnold backed out of the living room and made his way to Helga's room.

He recognized her green wallpaper with yellow hearts the second he opened the door. Looking around, he noticed how simple her room was. She had a bed, a dresser, a small shelf on the wall, a radio beside the bed, a floor lamp, and a table next to the door. It looked like there was a couple of books beside her radio. There was an empty space between then and the radio, so perhaps that's where Phoebe found this little blue book. These books must have been the diaries Phoebe talked about before. He sat on Helga's pink bed, and picked up the top diary and started to read it.

**Dear Diary,**

**We were rehearsing my play about the four food groups, and Arnold kept spacing out. It is kind of annoying that the King of the 4th act can't stay focused during one stinking practice. I mean where does he think he is aprehistoricjungle? What does he think he's doing; surfing? I know we are only not the 4th grade, but why am I the only one taking this seriously. We are going to be performing for our family, friends, and peers! Criminy, I know my parents won't be there, so do they just want to embarrass themselves in front of their parents? I don't know what to do with them. I ordered them all to arrive early to hopefully perform a miracle and get them to do the play correctly. I worked hard to write the play, assign the characters to the right people, and I've been researching my role to get in the right mindset! I've been eating nothing but dairy products for 2 weeks! Oh well, I just came home for some milk and cottage cheese. Then I'm gonna grab a handful of mozzarella sticks and head back to P.S.118 to make sure everything goes over well tonight. After all, my future as a playwright hangs on the balance.**

**Dear Diary,**

**I told everyone to show up a half an hour early, and at curtain call, Arnold and Gerald are M.I.A. Missing In Action! I got so mad I screamed Arnold's name at the top of my lungs. I had to start the play, I had to. I didn't want anyone to think that I was holding the play for Arnold, after all. Everything was alright until we got to the end of the third act, because Arnold still wasn't there. He and Gerald weren't there, I don't really know where they could have gone. Harold and Eugene were out on the stage and I told them to stretch the scene to hopefully give Arnold some more time to show up. Oh, Arnold how I hate him! And yet I love him! And yet I hate him! And yet I love him!**

**Ooohhh, watching Harold and Eugene stumbling about in their costumes, tripping over each other and falling into the crowd made me really upset. I started crying my eyes out at the disaster that had befallen me. It wasn't until Phoebe tapped me on the shoulder and I saw her crying. That's when I decided to stop waiting for Arnold and continue with your play. It's one thing for Arnold to make me cry, but make Phoebe cry, and you've gone too far. But, of course, as I was telling the audience about canceling the fourth act- That's when Arnold and Gerald slide onto the stage and start performing. And I should know, because Gerald pushes me into the spare stage lights, causing them to break. Who knows how much allowance that will cost me. Of course, how could I stay mad at Arnold, that beautiful creature, when I hear him singing in such a Devine way? I'm almost glad I wasn't on stage for anyone to see me gawking at my beloved.**

**Of course, Brainy did drop the curtain on my neck, and someone did throw a bouquet of roses in my face. The curtain was heavier then I expected and the florist forgot to de-Thorn the roses, but they were beautiful, even if it hurt.**

**Overall, I suppose the play was a success. So even though I desperately want to know where Arnold was, I can't really get away with asking him. Well, I suppose that's still better then Brainy. That's right, when I was talking to my locket, Brainy was once again breathing down my neck, I swear how many times do I have sock him before he cuts that out? Regardless, I can't wait for tomorrow. Do you have any idea how long I've been craving a cheeseburger?**

**Dear Diary,**

**Today started out like any normal day. Billy was showing off his albino worm collection, Sheena was boasting about her new scab that looked like Texas, and Brainy was offering his famous pocket lint nougats. But then Eugene comes riding up to school in a shiner red frame bike. And it really stood out because it had little metallic specks. It was multi-geared, had thick tires, and right in front of us, he added a Spuds McGee baseball card in the spokes. I don't even know if this is possible, but this may have been the happiest I've ever seen Eugene-and he's a pretty happy guy.**

**The bell rings and we all rush towards the doors, until we hear a mighty crash from behind us. Apparently Arnold places some heavy books on the bikes and the whole rack toppled over. And guess what? That brand new shiny red bike of Eugene's got shoved into the road and destroyed by a common street cleaner. Eugene's face turned as red as that bike, screamed at the top of his lungs and cried like a baby when the janitor had to toss it out.**

**It rained when school let out, which helped to clean the bottom of my shoe. Apparently I stepped on one of Billy's worms, named Pinky. But the thing that threw me off is that I didn't see Arnold on the bus. I mean sometimes he'll walk home, but he didn't have a raincoat or an umbrella or anything. Maybe he's punishing himself for wreaking Eugene's bike, but I really hope that he doesn't catch a cold from walking in the rain.**

**Dear Diary,**

**Today I found out why Arnold didn't take the bus yesterday... he rummaged through the garbage and plucked out Eugene's totaled bike. And then he took it home and fixed it up like some crazed, mad scientist.**

**But apparently he didn't fix it correctly, because taking that bike out for a ride, sent Eugene to the hospital. I heard a rumor that the hospital went in and removed Eugene's tonsils and spleen because they read his room number incorrectly. That seems like a stretch, if you ask me, but that hospital staff don't fill me with every confidence.**

**Man, though. I look over at Arnold and I keep wondering how he is doing. If he was beating himself up over a bike, how guilty does he feel for accidentally hurting Eugene like that...? I wish I could comfort him, but I have two reasons not to. 1. I suck at comforting others, and 2. Arnold might figure out that I like him, and I'm not ready for that yet.**

**Dear Diary,**

**For me, yesterday was pretty drab. I mostly read magazines while Miriam slept in the kitchen and Dad read his newspaper in the living room. But I saw Eugene today, and he's hurt again. I guess Arnold tried to give the dork his day, where nothing bad happened, and nothing good happened.**

**You never would have thought that if you heard happy little Eugene telling the story though. He fell down a manhole, then he got a home run ball to the head, choked on a hotdog in the park- which he coughed up and somehow got hit in the eye with that bite of hotdog. Then he fell into the river when the tower viewer came loose, got motion sickness from the ferry ride, and then for the cherry on top, he got his cast arm stuck in the bus door. But all he could talk about was how much fun he had.**

**Having a friend like Eugene would drive me crazy, but at least Arnold seems happier today. At least he doesn't seem to blame himself for Eugene's fun of bad luck, anyways. And that's good.**

Arnold looked down at his watch and saw that he had been reading for about 24 minutes. It was a little weird to read Helga's diary. He wished he could describe it better, but he really didn't know how this all made him feel. On one hand, he almost feels like this is a side of Helga that he hasn't really seen before. But then, all of this information feels so familiar, he can't help but feel a little nostalgic. Arnold leaned back on Helga's pillow to give his back a break from it's slightly painful position. And then he continued to read.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! or it's characters.

Note: Fair warning. If you are like me, you watched the whole series on Hulu or Amazon... However, I thought it would be more fun to write this story in order of the original air dates on television, which is different then their set up. It seems a little off to me, so it's probably gonna feel odd to some of you. Heh, at least we can all feel odd together. :)

Chapter 4,

**Dear Diary,**

**It's Friday, and the second the bell rings, the student body rush outside to talk about what they were gonna do tomorrow. I heard Sid say he was gonna watch all the morning cartoons, another kid says he's gonna go play catch and everyone started talking at once. And when asked what he was gonna do on Saturday, Arnold proudly says that he's gonna do everything on The List.**

**I wasn't even aware of the fact that he had The List in his position; who gave it to him?!? And don't act like you don't know what List I'm talking about- The List of a kid's perfect Saturday, handed down for generations.**

**We all treat it like some sacred document, but listen, what is it really saying? Watch every cartoon from 6-Dance Craze while eating three bowls of sugar chunk cereal. Ride your bike down the steepest hill in the neighborhood. Play catch with every kid in the park. Then go to the theater and see the same movie 3 times. There does that make my diary a sacred document? No.**

**Besides, do you know how long Dance Crazed has been in production? 5 years! And I know that because I overheard Bob complaining about the studio exchanging M.A.S.H. to make Dance Craze. He hates the idea of changing the channel once he's comfortable, because the remote is never in the same place you put it down. Not to mention the fact that simple notebook paper like that wouldn't survive being man handled by 20 kids every year for generations.**

**But still, I've never heard of anyone being able to do the whole list in one Saturday. If Arnold manages to pull it off, he'll become a legend here at P.S.118. Maybe I'll stop by the park tomorrow to play a little catch with him. After all The List does ask him to play with every kid in the park, and I'm still a kid.**

**Dear Diary,**

**I went to the park to see Arnold, but he wasn't there. I asked around and it didn't seem like anyone else has seen him either. I decided to stop by the theater, but they actually closed it down. When the sun started to set when I finally stopped by Arnold's house.**

**And you'll never believe it, but the police were chasing this stupid little clown car and the crashed into a fire hydrant. Water gushed all over them, making their make up run and junk while the police arrested them. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. The only thing that escaped were those latex party balloons.**

**Anyways, when it finally started to calm down, I heard this piano playing on the roof. Then I heard Arnold's grandmother singing and a harmonica- that was surely Arnold. Secure in the knowledge that my beloved was at least safe, I went home. I'm sure to hear what happened at school, since everyone cares so much about The List.**

**Dear Diary,**

**Man, Arnold had the worst Saturday of his life. Wait till you hear this. First, Arnold's alarm clock broke in the middle of the night. His grandfather ate the last of the sugar chunk cereal and the good milk. Arnold tried to watch tv, but the television exploded and the power went out in the whole house.**

**The kid he played catch with ran off with his ball.**

**When he rode his bike down the hill, he quickly discovered that the construction company was fixing 3 miles of the rode, and his bike got stuck in the tar.**

**He went to the theater to watch the movie, but his money fell out of a hole in his pocket. He tried to beg for the ticket but the ticket holder was more focused on her stupid tween magazine then helping out Arnold. And then Arnold did something very un-Arnold. He saw the side door was opened and he snuck into the theater. Man, he must have been desperate if he was acting so dishonestly.**

**Somehow how found his way to the the projector room, crawled up into the air ducts and fell right in the middle of a screening. He didn't even get to watch 5 seconds of that film before it tore to shreds and the theater canceled the rest of their showings.**

**Arnold talked about how his grandmother tried to get a piano in the house via front door and window, but eventually they just put it in the roof and called it a day. He said she sang him a song to make him feel better about the whole thing, so he's just gonna 'look up' and not let one bad Saturday get him down. Oh, my sweet Arnold, how strong you are.**

**You know, if you ask me, the whole List thing is a big crock. Probably a form of psychological torture older generations bestow on younger generations. Think about it, you have to wake up early, make sure you have enough cereal, milk, and money for movies. Then you gotta spend 20 minutes lugging your bike up a hill just for a 3 minute ride. Then paying for 1 movie ticket and hoping no one catches you, so you can see the movie two more times.**

**You risk getting caught, I mean 3-6 hours in one chair ain't gonna raise my flags? You can't really buy snacks or drinks or go to the bathroom or talk to anyone because someone might remember you. Not to mention sitting in one place for so long will make your body ache, or even get heat rash in certain places. So The List falsely promises the best Saturday ever, and it makes your expectations sky rocket. So when you don't do everything on The List, or everything goes wrong, you become doubly crushed.**

**I don't know what the future holds, diary, but if I get the chance, I would like to help Arnold complete that perfect Saturday he wanted. Even if it's just to make up for this lousy one.**

**Dear Diary,**

**I brought my skip rope to Arnold's house to play. I had just finished my ice cream bar from the Jolly Olly man, when I looked over and saw Arnold and Gerald sitting on the steps of the border house, and Arnold's grandfather came over with ice cream for the two of them. I'm guessing that things were quiet, because when the train passed by, old man Phil started telling them this story about a haunted train.**

**I wanted to come over right away, not to listen to some crock ghost story, but for the opportunity to sit close to Arnold. I didn't want anyone to get wise though, so I quickly did the Lizzie Borden rhyme before I made my way over. Two kids had come over by that point, so I couldn't really sit next to Arnold like I originally wanted. Therefore I was kinda stuck listening to the stupid story about a ghost train taking people to the fiery underworld; on the outer rim of the kids that had circled around them.**

**Arnold's grandfather told us that tonight was the 40th anniversary of the haunted train. Oh, and as if that story didn't sound fake enough, he told us exactly where the train station was, and how he wouldn't want to be there tonight. I turned my back to Arnold and Gerald and started skipping rope, as the other kids dispersed from the area.**

**After a moment, Arnold decides to ask Gerald if he thought the stories were real or not, since his grandfather stretches the truth sometimes. Seeing my opportunity to join in conversation with Arnold, I tossed my rope to the side and told him that I wasn't going to believe a word of that story without infrared photography, or ectoplasmic samples or some physical evidence like that. And Arnold said it would make sense if I was scared, as if I could be.**

**He challenged me to meet up with him and Gerald after the street lights go on, an hour past; at the old train station. Now how could I turn down such a thing? I got right up in Arnold's face and accepted it. It took all my willpower not to swoon when our noses touched ever so slightly. I doubt Arnold even noticed it, but I did. Now I'm just sitting in my room waiting for the street lamps to go on. I'm not worried about sneaking past my parents, since they barely notice that I'm alive.**

**I kinda wish Gerald wasn't gonna be there, but I suppose his presence is necessary. After all, he might help keep things from being awkward between us. And if we talk about this experience at school, no one would be the wiser... or at the very lease, no one will say it was a date...**

**Ha! Can you imagine Arnold and I finally going on a date and it actually WAS at the train station... oh, I better not think about that right before I'm about to see him. I just got to remember to keep my cool.**

**Dear Diary,**

**We went to that old decrepit train station, and it was a mess. I walked straight through a cobweb, which wasn't a big deal at first, until I looked down and saw a bunch of spiders on me. I swatted them off, but I'm glad that Arnold and Gerald didn't see me flip out. They would have laughed at me if they had.**

**Then Gerald picked up a rock and threw it down the tracks and hundreds of bats flew towards us. The building wasn't save, I got covered in spiders, and now the bats, so I suggested that we just go home because there wasn't a train there. Arnold said we had to wait longer then 30 seconds, so we waited. By midnight, Arnold and Gerald were singing the blues, driving me crazy and I told them that I was going home because none of this was real.**

**However, at that moment, a train whistle blew. I didn't recognize it at first because it sounded like Arnold's harmonica, but it was a train... it was THE train. Engine 25 roared into the station. It was a black train with red accents and lots of steam bellowing from the top. The doors opened and we were blinded with light, yet somehow we found ourselves on that train, as if pulled by a force we couldn't possibly understand. I grabbed the boy's shoulders and tried to get us off of the train, but the door closed before we could get off.**

**Then the smell of rotten eggs wafted into the car and some evil off-tuned accordion started to play. It all felt so inhuman, I just knew that we were gonna die. I started screaming nonsense about believing in all this stuff, and then the lights started to go in and out. And I got really scared because I could feel hot air on the back of my neck. I turned around and screamed at a mysterious figure behind me.**

**But then I saw that it was Brainy. Gerald opened the car door, and I tossed Brainy in the nearby water. Heck, he didn't mind, and he didn't even know why he was on the train to begin with.**

**When we closed the door back up again, Gerald pointed out the terrible flames and we knew we were in the underworld. Arnold thought quickly, and he grabbed the emergency fire hose as defense. We pointed at what we thought was the evil of all evils, and doused him.**

**Turns out the steel mill workers use this train to travel back and forth. The flames were from the steel mill, the smell was from the sulfur they use, the lights always act up, and the music was actually polka music the conductor was playing. I felt kinda silly standing there, thinking the train was haunted and there was a reasonable explanation for everything.**

**When we got back to the train station, Arnold's grandfather was there waiting for us. He was laughing before Arnold started retelling the tale of our plight. He was almost impressed that we used a fire extinguisher to fight against underworld fire. His grandfather did this whole thing because Arnold was bored, but at the same time, he wouldn't come out and admit that there wasn't a haunted train.**

**When I got home, I listened around for Miriam or Bob being awake. I could hear the sound of my father snoring upstairs, and I looked in the living room and saw Miriam asleep behind the couch. You know, it's kinda nice to be able to sneak out without getting caught. But at the same time, I can also feel hurt because... well, say that train was real, and I had died tonight. How many weeks would it be, before they noticed I was gone? And when they did realize I was dead, would they even be sad? Or would they be glad because that means they can talk more about their perfect daughter, Olga.**

**You know, I don't know how Olga would feel about my death. I bet she would want to perform at my funeral, and talk about fake sisterly moments, where everything revolves around her. She doesn't even realize that she does that, but all she cares about is herself. Good thing she is off at college, I can't stand it when she's around.**

**It's late, but I'm looking out my window and the moon is shining as brightly as Arnold's lovely smile. I feel a chill running down my spine at the thought. I think I'll go write a poem and then go to bed. Talk to you later.**

**Dear Diary,**

**Phoebe and I were walking around and we saw that they were setting up for the annual cheese festival. We decided to stop by and see how things were set up. It was kinda cool to see them putting the displays together.**

**But then Phoebe got a giant slice of cheese and was holding it up to her face. When I asked her what she was doing, she said that Swiss cheese were windows to the soul. And some people believed that if you spin around three times and look through it, it would guide you to your true love. To prove a point, I took the cheese from her, and I spun around three times. And when I looked through it, I was surprised to see Arnold. I didn't even know that he was there.**

**And for a moment, I believed in the power of the Swiss, because Arnold was walking over to me with this lovey-dovey expression on his face... that is, until he walked past me and over to stupid Ruth P. McDougal. I asked Phoebe what Ruth has that I didn't have, and she made me a list.**

**But you know what, I don't care. Tonight, with the help of Phoebe, I'm gonna make sure Arnold doesn't get close to that 6th grader. If he gets close to her, she'll fall in love with him, and I won't stand a chance! Then how will Arnold and I end up together.**

**Dear Diary,**

**I guess I was a little nervous about this plan going over well. When Phoebe stopped to asked me where the bathroom was, I kinda went off about her implying that I wanted to destroy Ruth because Arnold liked her, and I liked Arnold. Of course I didn't say it like that. But that's why I told Phoebe that Conversation never happened. Now, I'm not worried about Phoebe spreading rumors around, since she is a good egg. Besides, even if she wanted to spread the rumor around, I can always let my fists do the talking. But I hope things never come to that.**

**As expected, Arnold planned to approach Ruth with an edible gift to help break the ice. He decided on a cheese kabob, and I gotta say, it was a smart decision. It had several flavors so there was a higher chance that he bought her something that she liked.**

**Taking care of the kabob was simple enough. First Phoebe ran by Arnold, as if we were playing a game, and that left me free to 'accidentally' crash into Arnold and make him drop the stick without suspecting me of anything. Phoebe said it was an act of pure genius.**

**Ruth went into the hall of mirrors and Arnold went in after her. I asked Phoebe to wait for me, but I wasn't that concerned about leaving her alone, because Gerald was waiting for Arnold and they could talk to each other.**

**I actually did bump into Arnold in the hall of mirrors though. Actually he backed into me while he thought he was talking to Ruth.**

**Now that I think about it, he didn't even say sorry for doing that, but I guess he was too busy following Ruth. And in the moment, I was so preoccupied with making fun of Ruth to Arnold's face; and then, the second he was gone, loving the fact that he touched me.**

**I couldn't enjoy it though; for two reasons. 1, I was on a mission, so I slapped the sap right out of me to focus. And 2, guess who showed up... Brainy, of course. It was a little odd because I could see his image everywhere in the mirrors, but like always, that dope was right behind me and I shocked him.**

**I thought I had a decent chance when we got to the bumper cars. Sid gave us a warning that the 4th car had problems with the accelerator. I counted off, pushing kids into cars, 2, 3, and Ruth into the fourth. I thought Phoebe and I were in car number one, but as it turns out, we were in number one. We went fast to bash Ruth, but then I saw that she could stop. That's when I realized we were in car number 4, and I could see how hard Phoebe was trying to get us to stop before we crashed.**

**I kinda felt bad for her, and so I put a hand on her solder and told her 'good night' to help her face reality. We crashed past the wall, up into the air and into the inflatable hot dog atop a food truck. Phoebe was fine, and she took me to the aid tent, where they fixed me up with a neck brace. I sure feel stupid with it on, but the pain I go through today is worth knowing Arnold could be mine in the future.**

**When we finally found Arnold and Gerald again, they were at the tunnel of love. The easiest way to make sure Arnold doesn't sit with Ruth, is to have him sit with me. There was a barrier separating the boys and the girls, so I just pushed my way through and cut in line until Arnold and I were next to each other. I was all excited to ride the swan with Arnold until all the kids started jumping on the fence and rushing back and forth. Oddly enough Arnold and I were both dangling on the wall when the whole thing came crashing down.**

**Phoebe ended up riding the ride with Gerald and I think Ruth rode with Sid. Somehow Arnold ended up riding with his grandmother, who I didn't even see all day. I started the tunnel of love with Brainy, but then he tried to put his arm around me. So for the second time that day, I hit him which knocked him into the water.**

**I was so angry when I got off the ride, and then I saw Arnold. He was standing beside Gerald, watching Ruth leave. That cheered me up a little bit, simply because it meant they didn't end up together. Then Arnold made me mad again by saying the challenge makes him like Ruth more. I didn't fracture my neck to make Arnold crush harder on some other girl. But then, as if to add insult to injury, I see Phoebe walk over to Gerald, and they left, holding hands.**

**I have nothing against Gerald, and I want Phoebe to be happy, but watching them leave made me sad. As the festival lights shut off, I stood all alone, in the place where happy memories should be made. But there I was; ignored, cold, depressed, and I let a few silent tears fall down my face. No one noticed, no one saw and no one cared.**

**I'm sure Phoebe thought I went home already and will apologize for not making sure I had, before she left. That's just the kind of person she is. But right now I am overwhelmed with sadness, and I am trying desperately not to cry on the pages and make the ink run.**

**Oh, forget it, I can't help being such an emotional person. Even if my feelings are misplaced or wrong, I'm too sad to care. I need to cry; into the pillow of course, to muffle the sound. Bob hates it when I don't behave like a Pataki and sweep it under the rug.**

**Dear Diary,**

**I am so fed up with playing ball in the street! There are so many cars that go by- it takes us two days to play one lousy inning. And then finally, when we get to Arnold, he gets a home run, which hits the traffic light and into the back of a truck.**

**I'm watching tv now, but the only thing on, is court tv, and- hang on.**

**Hm, interesting, Arnold says if we clean up the old lot, we could turn it into our own baseball field. He's calling it 'Gerald's Field', which you know was Gerald's idea. But I don't care what you call it, as long as we don't have to deal with cars. I gotta go help them clean up. Goodbye stupid court tv.**

**Dear Diary,**

**Oh, it was so great to play in our own field! We didn't have to worry about cars, we built it up ourselves, and the walls are so high, we don't have to worry about our sound level as much. You know, like the tall walls of Eastern State Penitentiary block the sounds of the city because the wall are so tall.**

**Arnold did so great. He hit like a champ, and threw like a champ. Granted it almost felt like he threw the ball at me, instead of towards Gerald, but I just held up the bat and blocked it before it could hit me and handed the bat to Gerald. It was so fun. I just can't wait to play tomorrow!**

**Dear Diary,**

**Stupid Adults! We get back to Gerald's Field and the adults took over it. Chickens, checkers, horseshoes, plants, ugh! I mean I like bocce ball as much as the next person, but I don't like running an obstacle course as we are trying to play baseball. And that's exactly what Arnold suggested we do, and we did try it; but of course that went down like a lead balloon.**

**Eventually we all got sick of trying to work around the adults and crossed the street to hang out in the alley. We started talking about how unfair it was that we did all the work and they took it from us and all the rules adults put on us. We even broke a window trying to play some baseball. But that's just how life is when grownups rule the world.**

**When we cane out of the alley, we saw the adults fighting over who gets to do what with the lot. I don't think I'll ever forget the way Mrs. Vitello broke Mr. Green's has with a wicked right hook.**

**I looked over at Arnold and he was staring at something to his right and then he smiled. It was the trash can where we dumped all the trash in yesterday. The second he smiled at me, I knew exactly what he wanted to do. The whole group pushed that trash can over to the lot and dumped it back where is once was.**

**Of course the grownups got upset at us for doing this, but Arnold walked up to them and told them off. It was kinda beautiful. He told them that this is how the lot looked before we cleaned it and they stole it. And Gerald said if they wanted it so badly, it's only fair they get it the way we got it, a dump.**

**We left after that; I mean no reason to stay. I hate that Gerald's Field was taken from us, but what more can we expect from adults. They care more about themselves then anyone else on the planet... or, at least us kids.**

**I hope Arnold's not taking it too hard. I mean the lot is so close to his house, he's bound to see it almost every day. Oh well, what more could any of us kids do?**

**Dear Diary,**

**I never could have predicted this, but the adults are giving us our field back. Not only that, they put in the time and money to make Gerald's Field look like a professional baseball diamond.**

**Apparently Arnold made them see that they were wrong about stealing our field and we were right about being mistreated. They even gave us major league balls and ox tail meat- ok, the meat was just Mr. Green, but still. And you should have seen that Mr. Hyunh guy running around and around, screaming 'play ball'. I think he was more excited then we were.**

**I'm just glad that, for once, things turn out good for us, and we got Gerald's Field back.**

**Dear Diary,**

**I overheard Gerald talking to the guys after school. Apparently on Saturday he and Arnold went to the 6th grade dance AND with dates. Gerald said they were the hippest dudes there because they used the clothes and advice from his father's dating trunk.**

**Now, ignoring how creepy it kinda is for his father to have a dating trunk in the first place, that stuff must be from the 50's-70's depending on how old his father is, and how long Gerald's parents have been married. That must have made them stand out of the crowd... I bet Arnold looked really cute in his really cute in his retro attire. Gerald said they worked hard to say the right thing and dance the right way.**

**They were having a great time until these two 6th grade boys accused them of stealing their girlfriends and got dragged outside to fight. Arnold said that their 6th grade dates stopped their boyfriends before they could hurt them.**

**Then the girls apologized to he and Gerald for leading them on, making them think they had a chance and all, but they still liked their stupid boyfriends. The girls thanked them for taking them to the dance, and kissed their cheek.**

**I'll admit I'm a little envious of these 6th grade airheads for being Arnold's date and kissing him the way I want to. Or perhaps I'm a little jealous that Arnold found them so pretty, and he never thinks of me that way. Oh, well, at least I don't have to worry about them in the future.**

For the first time in days, Arnold's stomach growled. The sound almost scared him, and he looked down at the audible body part. Apparently the soundalso scared something else. From somewhere downstairs, he heard a loud hiss and remembered that Helga had a monitor lizard. He didn't hear it walking or moving in any sort of way,so he relaxed a little. Looking over at the clock, he saw that he had 36 minutes before he needed to leave.

He didn't want to focus on the lizard, or the food, for now his only goal was to read as much as he can before his time was up. Then when he gives the key back to Phoebe and he gets home, he'll try not to become overwhelmed with sadness as he worked.

He knew Helga didn't have a happy home life, but some of this was more sad then he originally anticipated.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! or it's characters.

Chapter 5,

**Dear Diary,**

**We were playing baseball and for some odd reason Arnold was just having an off day. It wasn't until Harold teased Arnold about being Mickey Kaline that Arnold knocked it 3 miles past the park. HA! and Harold crying and running after the ball was just the icing on the cake. Oh, Arnold, is there anything you can't do?**

**Arnold loves Mickey Kaline though. Thinks he is the greatest baseball player of all time even carries a Mickey Kaline card with him when he plays ball for good luck. I don't have the heart to tell Arnold that despite the fact Kaline has 533 home runs on record, he also has 1330 strikeouts as well. Besides dad was telling me that tomorrow is Mickey's last game before he retires, so Arnold is gonna have a hard enough time with that already.**

**Dear Diary,**

**I decided to watch Mickey Kaline's last game, not because I'm a big fan, but because Arnold is. I don't really like watching baseball, I would much rather play it; but guess what. Mickey Kaline comes up to the plate for his very last bat, he swings, he hits it, and it goes into the crowd. And guess whose there to catch it- my beloved Arnold. I should have known that he'd go to the game.**

**Heh, it was so cute though, because Arnold was chased after these two guards. I guess he wasn't suppose to be in that section, but he just wanted to be close to Mickey Kaline. Even I can't blame him for that. I mean, just seeing the way he lights up when talking about him, is such a lovely sight. I hope he does something precious with that home run ball he caught.**

**Dear Diary,**

**Arnold is a part of this basketball ball team at the YMMA. But I stopped going because O just hated what they were doing. They must have one terrible coach, because all they do is get the ball and pass it to #9. I think his name is Tucker, but I know that he's the coaches son. As much as I love Arnold, I can't help but get emotional when I see him selling out like that.**

**I heard today, at the game, Arnold got benched for passing the ball to Gerald instead of this Tucker guy. I mean, clearly the kid wasn't open, that's the only reason Arnold wouldn't follow instructions. And if it's such a big deal, how come Gerald didn't get benched for taking the shot. I mean, if it means so much to the couch, Gerald should get in trouble too. From a different position someone might be able to hand it to his precious son- But NOOOOOO, Arnold gets in trouble for no good reason. I'm so mad that I could spit teeth. I mean the guy can't even shoot free throws.**

**(Sigh) I wouldn't blame him if he wanted to quit after this. Why play on a team if you can't play with your team? I mean, I'll occasionally bowl in a league, but if the whole team got gutter balls so that one girl could shine, I would quit and go solo. That's just me, though; Arnold is a bit more loyal. I wonder what he'll do.**

**Dear Diary,**

**I should have gone to today's game. I know what I said before, but just listen. The team gets to 37 points and they need 3 points to win the game. As usual Tucker had been doing all the work because his father insisted, but oddly enough he was better at his free throws.**

**Then he has to get taken out because his shoulder hurt, and they put Arnold in the game! He did one free throw and then a two-pointer and won the game. Oh, I'm so proud of my little football head. You know I can't prove it, but I bet Arnold helped that Tucker kid with his free throws and Tucker faked being hurt to get Arnold in the game. I guess it's not that great to be the coach's kid after all.**

**Now that Arnold actually gets to play, I may start going to their games again. Heh, Arnold always looks so cute in his basketball uniform. Ah, something to look forward to.**

**Dear Diary,**

**We were playing Nuclear ball and of course fat boy Harold starts bragging about his aim, not that any of it was true. He tried to hit Arnold, who ducked and the ball hit Harold in the face. Harold got mad at Arnold and wanted to beat him up- even pinning Arnold to the wall. I picked up a ball to throw at Harold and sock him, but turns out that wasn't necessary.**

**For some reason, Frankie G came strolling up to our neck of the woods. He saved Arnold, threatened Harold and took Arnold for a ride on his motorcycle. I wasn't very happy when Arnold took off with him. Sid said he's the coolest guy in the world, but I don't feel that way. He has this awesome bike, a tough demeanor and ripped up clothes.**

**If you ask me, if a guy can 'afford' a sweet ride like that, but not new clothes to replace the damage ones, they are up to something shady. Hopefully Arnold won't get too attached to a guy like that.**

**Dear Diary,**

**Gerald was last for class, but Arnold didn't show up at all. I'm kinda worried about him, because Gerald said he skipped school to hang out with Frankie G again. Man, guys like Frankie are often low lever thugs, who are only interested in kids because we aren't that suspicious. Even if we were to get caught, people are easier on nine year olds then 29 year olds...**

**I know that I normally stay silent and let Arnold make his own decisions, but if Arnold really can't tell Frankie is a bad dude, then I got to say something. I don't know if he'll listen to me, or care that I am there, but if he skips school tomorrow, I'm gonna go over to his house to try and reason with him. Oh please don't miss school tomorrow. Oh, please don't miss school tomorrow.**

**Dear Diary,**

**Thank God, Arnold showed up to school today. He said that Frankie G was bad news and he wasn't gonna be hanging out with him anymore. I think he said something about Frankie wanting Arnold to break into Gene's HiFi and rip it off. If it wasn't for Gerald, Arnold might have been beaten up by Frankie's gang or even sent to Julie. I hate that Arnold went through that, but maybe it's good for him. I know Arnold likes to see the best in people, but I do wish he would be more careful.**

**Dear Diary,**

**Yesterday was the absolute worse day of my life because Arnold managed to get a hold of my poetry book!**

Arnold looked up at the clock and his heart sank.

"Ugh, no. It can't be time to go now." Arnold said to the empty room.

"Wait a minute? 'Arnold managed to get a hold of my poetry book'? What? When?" Arnold said towards the book.

"How can I just end there? Maybe I can take the book with me. No, I promised Phoebe I wouldn't. What can I do?" Arnold said in a slight panic. He pulled out his phone to text Phoebe and beg her for more time, but then he had an ideas

He could take pictures of Helga's diary and he could read the pictures when he's not here. That's bound to tide him over until he came back tomorrow. With a smile he took a few pictures and returned the book to it's rightful place. He left the Pataki home, locked the door behind him, and started walking back to the hospital. As he walked, Arnold thought about Helga's words and finally started to let their weight get to him.

Arnold remembered skipping the play. He rode the bus all the way downtown with Gerald in their fruit costumes without any money. It was a memorable day for him since they accidentally got rich and they got chased around. Eventually they returned to save the play, but they didn't really ask what happened before they got there. It's sad to know Helga intentionally waited for him, when they weren't planning to return at all.

Arnold rounded the corner, and he shoved his hands in his pockets.

Helga's always paid so much attention to him and what was going on with his life; but he didn't notice so much about her. Sure he knew her mom was a flake and her dad was angry and they gave more attention to Olga then Helga, yet it all felt like an entirely different experience when he saw things from Helga's raw perspective. There was parts where Arnold wanted to cry, but he held it in.

Arnold got on the bus and thought back to the cheese festival. He kinda remembered seeing Helga there, hanging out with Phoebe, but he was clearly more focused on Ruth then Helga. He doesn't even remember Phoebe and Gerald hanging out together. But when he read how sad Helga was that night... those surreal words really woke him up to how much he overlooked Helga.

The bus got to the hospital and Arnold stepped off, only to be immersed in the sounds of yelling. There stood Bob Pataki, telling at the phone, saying something about suing the hospital for 'false information' or 'false advertising'. At first Arnold thought this to be nothing more then delusional ranting of a father in pain. Arnold walked past him.

"Yeah, it's a great idea. The case will generate tons of publicity and showcase me being a distraught father. If I win, will get a bunch of money to promote the emporium further. And if I lose, people will buy things they don't need because they feel sorry for me. HA! I swear getting in a coma is the first useful thing Olga- I mean Helga, has ever done." Mr. Pataki said boisterously and Arnold was thoroughly disgusted. But since he wasn't a violent person, he swallowed his anger and went inside the hospital. How could Mr. Pataki turn this whole situation into one big Ad campaign? How could he do that to Helga?

"Hello, Arnold." Phoebe said when she saw him walking up to her.

"Hey Phoebe." Arnold said as he dug the key out of his pocket and handed it back to her.

"How do you feel?" Phoebe asked and Arnold paused.

"A little emotional but motivated to continue." Arnold said and Phoebe nodded.

"I think you look better already." Phoebe said.

"Oh, right. Here's your bento box back, thanks." Arnold said as he handed it back to her, and then he looked past Phoebe and over to Helga.

"There are so many things I wish I could tell her." Arnold said.

"Well, you aren't going to, buddy boy." They turned and saw Bob walking over to them.

"You left. Why did you come back?" Bob asked.

"I was just wanting to return this bento box to Phoebe." Arnold said and Bob eyed him.

"You could have done that at school. You just wanted an excuse to see Helga when Miriam and I aren't here to make sure you don't make things worse." Bob said. Arnold couldn't help but hate Mr. Pataki right now. He refuses to let him talk to Helga, he's trying to use Helga once again, and Bob claims that he will make Helga worse? Arnold was about to tell Bob some choice words, but he stopped when Phoebe put a hand on his chests

"Mr. Pataki, if I may? I happen to believe that if Arnold were able to spend more time with Helga, it would be quite good for her." Phoebe said and Bob looked down at her.

"What are you talking about?" Bob asked.

"Look over at Helga." Phoebe asked and all three of them did. To their amazement, Helga's head was turned towards them.

"She can hear Arnold's voice and though her reaction is small and delayed, she is responding by looking at him." Phoebe said and Bob hesitated.

"So she moved, that doesn't prove anything. There's three of us here." Bob said and Phoebe nodded.

"Very well. Arnold can you go stand in the corner for me and please talk to Helga?" Phoebe asked. He went into the corner as instructed, but he hesitated with actually speaking to Helga. Mr. Pataki sighed.

"Go ahead kid." Bob consented and Arnold took a deep breath to calm himself.

"Hey Helga." He started and he rubbed his arm.

"Things aren't the same at school without you being there everyday. I think you would have laughed when Eugene tried to sing Oklahoma! in the cafeteria and he slipped in a banana peel and crashed into Sheena. Eugene broke his arm and Sheena got a scab. She's happy about that, of course, but she says if you squint the scab looks like Eugene's hair, heh. I miss you a lot, Helga, and I don't know if I'll be able to talk to you again. So let me at least say that I'm-"

Arnold froze when Helga shifted her head towards him.

"... sorry." Arnold said as his eyes watered. Phoebe looked at Bob. He looked at Helga, then Arnold, then Helga again.

"Oh, forget it. You can see Helga whenever you want and talk to her." Bob said, and he pulled out his phone.

"I got business to take care of anyways; see if I care." Bob said, walking away. Arnold looked at Phoebe, smiled, and then hugged her tightly.

"Thank you, Phoebe." He whispered and Phoebe hugged him back.

"You're welcome Arnold."


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! or it's characters.

Chapter 6,

"And then Frankie G picked me up and shoved my head into the window of Gene's HiFi. I was stuck there when I heard the sound of a police siren and they hightailed it, leaving me dangling there. Lucky for me that was actually Gerald saving my skin. He got that siren thing from his attic and he followed me and Frankie G to Gene's HiFi." Arnold said to Helga.

He was so happy just to finally talk to her, and he started telling her about Phoebe giving him the key and reading her diary and telling her some of the stuff she didn't know back then. He figured that this was good practice for when he told Helga for real. He sighed and glanced at her heart monitor.

"You know, I am just beginning to realize how much you've cared about me all these years, Helga... I shouldn't have said that you were terrible to me, and that at thought our relationship was a mistake. You do love me, that's not something you lied about." Arnold said as he held her hand with both of his.

"You might blow a gasket when you figure out I've been reading your diary; and you would have every right to get upset. I don't know, perhaps it's wrong of me to think, but I can't help but enjoy this slight invasion of your privacy." Arnold said and he brought her hand up to his face.

He wasn't exactly sure what to say next and he stared at Helga as he tried to think of something. After who knows how long, there was a knock on the doorway and he saw his parents standing there.

"Hey." Arnold said, pleasantly surprised.

"Probably wondering what we're doing here, huh sport?" His father, Miles, said and Arnold smirked.

"Not really, dad. Honestly, I'm surprised that you managed to stay away this long." Arnold teased and his mother, Stella, giggled when she saw the dumbfounded expression on her husbands face.

"Phoebe called and let us know where you were. I should be upset that you stayed out so long without contacting us yourself... however, I think we can let that slide since you're here with Helga- just as you told us before." She said. She came over to Arnold and ruffled his hair.

"But you have a phone for a reason, and I expect you to use it, Arnold Phillip." Stella said and Arnold nodded.

"I will, I guess I just forgot today, sorry." Arnold said and Miles smiled.

"How's Helga, buddy?" Miles asked.

"Better. Just a little bit anyways. I guess she likes to hear the sound of my voice, since she seems to follow the sound." Arnold said and Stella bit her lip.

"Hon... it's dinner time. We came to bring you home." Stella said. Arnold looked over T the clock in disbelief, but it was after 7.

"Ok, just give me a minute to say goodnight to Helga." Arnold said and Miles nodded.

"Sure thing, son. We'll be right outside the door." Miles said and they stepped out of the room. Arnold leaned in close and gently kissed the top of her forehead.

"I've got to go, Helga. I'll come back tomorrow." Arnold whispered to her. He carefully stepped away from the bed, staring at Helga as he did. He paused when he saw Helga smiling this small door smile. But then her hand twitched and her smile went away. Arnold thought this was odd, but then he suddenly recalled something Helga wrote in her diary.

I was on amission, so I slapped the sap right out of me.

Did Helga genuinely haul back and slap herself because she loved him bumping into her? Was that hand gesture actually Helga attempting to slap the sap right out of herself? Arnold sighed.

"Helga, you're too hard on yourself, sometimes." Arnold whispered and he turned his head away.

"I should have noticed that more." Arnold said and he looked back at Helga.

"I should have noticed you more." Arnold said sadly. Arnold straightened his back as he breathed in through his nose.

"I, Arnold P Shortman, swear that I will never overlook you again." Arnold vowed with a determined look in his eye. Arnold brought his hand up to his chest and rested it on his heart. Arnold feels a little better now that he was able to spend time with Helga( but he still felt sad.

"Goodnight Helga." Arnold said before he left the room. As promised, his parents were sitting on the nearest bench waiting for him.

"Ok, I'm ready to go." Arnold said and his parents stood up. Together they walked out of the hospital and Miles smiled at them.

"Why don't you guys stay here while I go into the parking garage and get the packard." Miles said and Stella nodded.

"Sounds good, Miles." Stella said and Miles walked away. Stella looked down at Arnold and frowned.

"I know this is kinda difficult for you... do you wanna talk about it after diner?" Stella asked and Arnold shrugged and looked at her.

"Maybe, I just... uh..." Arnold trailed off when he noticed movement behind his mother.

"Hm " Stella turned as well and there was a man and woman arguing.

"You know I'm good for it!" The woman whined.

"I haven't known thatfor a long time!" The man screamed.

"But I-"

"Besides, I have the right to refuse service to anyone! And you're too drunk to stand still!" The man said. It became clear to Arnold that this must have been the bartender to Donald's Den- the bar next to the hospital.

"It doesn't matter if I can stand still or not!" The woman said and the man crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm sorry, but I can't give you any more. I can call you a cab, I can call your house, I can walk you down to the bus stop; but I will not give you another drink tonight." Donald said.

"Do you know who my husband is? He doesn't care how much I drink!" The woman said.

"Let me call you a cab-"

"I don't want a cab! I want a shot!" The woman shouted.

"Miriam!" Donald shouted and that's when Arnold recognized Helga's mother and he gasped.

"You can come back tomorrow!" Donald said.

"Tomorrow's tomorrow; I want a drink now!" Miriam said.

"No! Go Home!" Donald shouted before he walked back into the bar, slamming the door behind him.

"Fine!" Miriam screeched and she started to walk towards Arnold and his mother.

"Who needs you anyways!" She said loudly, but not as loudly as before.

"Oh, dear. We better keep out of her way." Stella whispered to Arnold, pulling him closer to him. Miriam passed by Arnold and he grew concerned when he heard the word 'smoothie'.

"Mom, we need to take her home." Arnold said.

"You want to bring a drunk girl home? I'm sure there is a room at the boarding house, but we can't bring back all the strangers we see." Stella said and Arnold rested his hand on her arm.

"She's not a stranger." Arnold said before walking over to Miriam.

"Mrs. Pataki?" Arnold said and she turned when she heard him speak. Stella's eyes widened at those words.

"Oh... you...? You're one of Helga's little friends... aren't you?" Miriam asked. Arnold looked kinda familiar, but she wasn't really sure anything else about him.

"Yes." Arnold said slowly. He really didn't feel like correcting her and telling her that he was Helga's boyfriend. That might be a little too confusing for her.

"Um, Mrs. Pataki. I would like to give you a ride home." Arnold said, extending his hand out to her. It was at this point that Miles came out of the parking garage.

"Hon, what is Arnold doing?" Miles said.

"We are gonna drive her home." Stella said, getting in the car.

"What? We're gonna drive home some woman we've never met before?" Miles asked. Stella gave him a death glare and Miles swallowed roughly.

"Of course we are." Miles said with a nervous chuckle.

"How old are you?" Miriam asked.

"Ten." Arnold answered.

"That's a little young to be driving, young man. You better drive 5 miles under the speed limit so that no one suspects a thing." Miriam said, taking Arnold's hand. Arnold led Miriam to the car and they both climbed into the back of the Packard.

With the help of Arnold; Miles drove Mrs. Pataki home. When they drove up to the building they found the building was dark, so Arnold told them that Bob was probably out with his lawyers. Stella and Miles asked Arnold to stay in the car while they assisted Mrs. Pataki.

While they were inside, Arnold thought about that woman being around Helga. He slumped back in his seat and pulled out his phone:

**Dear Diary,**

**Yesterday was the absolute worse day of my life, because Arnold managed to get a hold of my poetry book! Ugh... and to think, I was in such a good mood before that stupid little slip up. I tend to bring my poetry book to class in case I feel inspired, like when I throw a spitball at him just so I can see his face. I swear with it falling into Arnold's hands, I guess I really shouldn't have carved into my math book in order to keep it safe.**

**In fact, I wrote a poem in class about bathing in his eyes. Who knows, if that had never happened, perhaps Arnold never would have gotten my poetry book to begin with. See, I wanted an extra shot of Arnold, since I started momentum earlier. I took a pair of scissors and snipped a lock of his hair as I passed him on the bus. Having it thrilled me and I taped it down in the book with a bandaid I received earlier.**

**I turned the page and I spelled out my name and spoke of how Arnold inspired me so. I don't know what's stupider, the fact that I signed my name, or the fact that I accidentally dropped it with Arnold's stack of books. I didn't even realize I didn't have it until I got home. I sat in the steps and I was gonna write another poem and I realized where I must have lost it.**

**I rushed to Arnold's place, hoping to simply ask for it back, but I was too late. I saw Gerald reading my poems out loud to Arnold and I was simply mortified. Those poems weren't meant to be read until I was 6 feet under with worms eating me. In other words- NEVER! Why did I have to be so bold?**

**Well, there wasn't much I could do, I mean he was already reading my poems. But I vowed that Arnold would never see that last page, because I'm not prepared to face his possible rejection. I needed to get that book out of his room. I already knew that his room was on the top floor, so I simply climbed up the fire escape. I got a little nervous when I looked down below and saw Arnold and Gerald chasing after his pig, Abner. I'm just glad that they didn't see me.**

**I climbed into the roof and I may have fallen through the window and crashed into Arnold's room, but uh... let's just keep that between you and me. From now on let's say that I swiped into his room like a covert secret agent. Honestly I'm really lucky none of those borders heard my 'swooping'.**

**And whatever pain I felt quickly melted away when I realized I was actually inside his room and Euphoria set in. Oh, and his room was just as unique as I had dreamed it to be. His bed was so soft and his pillow smelled just like him- I wish I knew what kind of shampoo he uses, because it just smells so good.**

**Who knows what might have happened if I had managed to find my book and get out without browsing around in this once in a lifetime opportunity. But I'll tell you what did happen. I saw my book on this tall book shelf, barely hidden by this potted plant. Which is kinda odd, isn't it? I mean it's like he was worried that someone would come and steal the book, but who would dare enter his room without his permission? Er... never mind.**

**I couldn't grab the book and flee, the way I wanted to, because Arnold came back with truffles and disappointment. I hid in the only place I could hide; the closet. Once I was really scared that Arnold realized I was there, but then he pulled out a remote and turned on music and adjusted the lights.**

**He and Gerald decided to look at the diary scientifically. They analyzed the pencil I had in it, and the hair I clipped from Arnold earlier. I got so annoyed at Arnold because he was sincerely hoping that Ruth McDougal was the author of the poems. I don't know much about Ruth, but if you ask me, she's all looks and no brain.**

**I watched him go down the list of who might possess a book like this. And though I knew the answer, I couldn't help but wonder what Arnold had up his sleeve. I mean, does he even realize he got the book by mistake? Does he think it was a gift- a declaration of love or something? (Sigh) I suppose I should feel lucky. They spent so much time analyzing evidence of who I might be, that they never even read the book all the way. Which, if they had, would have literally spelled out who wrote those poems.**

**You know, I was really worried about them discovering my secret when Arnold picked up our yearbook and decided to compare the handwriting of the poems with the autographs we previously signed. I wanted to scream when Arnold suggested that Ruth McDougal purposely changed her handwriting because she was too shy to be honest with him... I suppose that confirms the possibility of Arnold believing the book was intentionally given.**

**Regardless, they compared signatures late into the night. When they finally got to my name, they decided to laugh instead of glancing at my signature. I got so mad I growled, which they blew off as coyotes.**

**But then Gerald suggested they get ice cream. At first Arnold agreed, but then there was something about that book that made Arnold change his mind. I don't really know what, I kept whispering and rising a suspicion in Gerald. Lucky for me, Arnold once again blew off my verbal interruptions and claimed that they were both too tired to continue. I really must stop talking to myself, it's gonna get me in trouble one day.**

**Arnold went straight to bed and I pulled out my phone and called Phoebe. I needed her to lie to my mom and tell Miriam that I was sleeping over at her house tonight.**

**I couldn't run the risk of climbing a bookcase of stereo equipment to get my book and leaving. I could get caught and I didn't really have a good reason for being in the closet of his room. Instead I slept in the closet of that sweet prince and simply hoped I could get the book before he left for school. I had such a difficult time going to sleep. I couldn't lie down or anything; I mean, after all, Arnold needs to change his clothes in the morning. I sat in the corner and rested my head on my arms and knees until I managed to pass out. It didn't really feel like I slept at all though.**

**I heard Arnold alarm and I saw him slip the book out the door and he went down to breakfast. I fell out his closet and I think I may have briefly fallen back to sleep. I say that because when I climbed out of Arnold's room, climbed down that cold fire escape and got to the school, Arnold was on the steps reading my poems out loud for anyone to listen! And not only that, but Arnold was about to read the very last poem; AKA, the one with my name! It was scary enough for Arnold to discover I liked him- but the whole school?!? I had to act fast, and I did.**

**I rushed up and ripped the page out of the book before he got a chance to finish it. I removed it he hair/bandaid that was on the back of it, chewed it up and threw it at the football head. I didn't really worry about how it might have looked. I mean he already knows that I like to throw spitballs at him and Stinky immediately noticed that I had a rough night. Of course if he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut and realize I was in no mood for stupid jokes, he wouldn't have been pushed into the garbage can.**

**But you know what? Yesterday may have been emotional torture and I had a terrible nights 'rest' and everyone was laughing at the words of my sensitive heart, but at the very least, my secret was still a secret; which is what I really wanted. I'm glad that while ordeal is over, even if Arnold still has my little pink book. I thought I would go ahead and write that all out before I laid down in my bed and tried to make up for the sleep I lost last night.**

**I gotta say, for a kid who was so interested in the scientific method, why did he think the book had hair and a pencil? If he thought it was a gift, I can only see the hair being given by an insane person. The pencil isn't great either, I mean it was chewed up. And what did he expect, that he was suppose to continue writing in the book? And that's why he 'needed' that pencil?**

**And if he thought it was an accident, then why would that football head think the author would scrapbook her own hair? There isn't really a call for that.**

**Ow, my head. I do not have the mental strength to question the acts of that boy. If you need me I'll be dreaming about Arnold's jellybean-like eyes. Oh, that only really makes sense if you read my poem.**

**You know, I guess Arnold can keep that old book. He's read all the poems in it already and if he still wants to keep it after that, I guess it's ok. Even if he only wants to make fun of it. Ugh, boys. If I didn't love him, I would really be sick of him.**


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold or it's characters.

Chapter 7,

Arnold was a little uncomfortable with the fact that Helga his out in his closet and he never knew. However, he could understand that Helga didn't fall into his room to actually spy on him. She did it to get her book back. And Arnold still has that little pink book in his room. Every once in a while, he would read it, and those kind, familiar words were pleasant to him. Even if Helga cut his hair with out him knowing it. But it's like what Grandpa said back then; it's nice that someone cares so much about him. It's obsessive, but also cool.

"So, Kimba. I hear you and your folks ran into Miriam Pataki today." Grandma said as she brought out a stack of pancakes for dinner.

"Yeah, we did." Arnold said.

"Yeah? How did that go?" Phil asked. Stella and Miles looked at each other and hesitated.

"Oh, well... I'd say enlightening." Stella said.

"Yes, we even drove her home." Miles said.

"Well, knowing that woman, she was probably too oiled up to get on the right bus. You did the right thing." Ernie Potts said and Arnold's parents blinked.

"Is she always like that?" Stella asked.

"As long as I know her, she had wobbly walk. I first think that she has bad legs, but then I hear her slurred speech and she always smell of bourbon and whiskey and others I don't know. Yes, she dips in the sauce a lot; Mrs. Pataki very saucy." Mr. Hyunh said and Stella bit her lip.

"Wow. I had no idea." Stella said and Miles nodded.

"Maybe there's some way that we can help." Miles suggested and Oskar Kokoshka laughed.

"If you really want to help, pass me some more butter and syrup for my food." Oskar said.

"Oh, shut up Oskar! You already smothered and drowned your hot cakes. Just eat up already." Phil said and Oskar pouted.

"You want me to starve, don't you? If I can't have food that tastes good every now and again, how am I suppose to eat food without butter and syrup?" Oskar asked.

"Well, if you don't like it, then I'm sure Pooky would love it. You can always ask Suzie to make you food- oh, that's right, I'm sorry. She's still staying with her mother. Well, maybe you can learn how to make your own food every once in a while!" Phil shouted.

"Oh, forget you. Suzie is with her mother." Oskar said and Ernie scoffed.

"Right, I'm sure we all believe that." Ernie said.

"Why does no one believe me?" Oskar said.

"Because you are untrustworthy, and selfish. Suzie should never have married you." Mr. Hyunh said and Oscar stood up and picked up his plate.

"Forget all of you, I'll go eat in my room." Oskar said and Grandma laughed.

"No one leaves the farm with food unless they want to be eaten alive by coyotes." She said.

"What does that mean?" Oskar asked.

"It means that you aren't gonna eat in your room. The only one who does that is Mr. Smith, and it's not like he'll complain about the food." Phil said and Oskar sat back down.

"I'm done." Arnold said, standing up and taking his plate to the kitchen.

"Oh, well, alright Shortman. You wanna watch something on the tube?" Grandpa said and Arnold shook his head.

"Nah, I think I'm just gonna go to my room." Arnold said.

"Are you sure?" Miles asked and Arnold nodded.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna do a little light reading and go to bed." Arnold said.

"I can read to you if you'd like." Stella said and Arnold shook his head.

"No thanks. But I'll call you if I change my mind." Arnold said.

"Goodnight." The chorus of adults said as he walked up the stairs. Arnold went straight to his room, and changed into his pjs before jumping into bed and pulling out his phone.

**Dear Diary,**

**Everyone was excited because we had a field trip to the aquarium. We were a little restless on the bus. I played limbo with Sheena and Nadine, and behind me, Harold pretended to be a whale and dowsed Arnold and Gerald in milk; man is he stupid.**

**But we started talking about the last time we started talking about the last time we went to the Aquarium, in first grade, because Arnold wasn'table to godue to chicken pox. And Gerald reminded us how much we loved LockJaw. It was kinda cute when we got to the aquarium because Arnold was going around trying to figure out which one was Lock Jaw.**

**Finally the whole lot of us went up to see Lock Jaw and for the first time in 3 years, we get to see Lock Jaw again; and Arnold got to see him for the first time. It was a little disappointing, I must say, but even though he didn't look as scary or big as he did back then, he was still an ancient species.**

**It kinda sucked that he was dripping with graffiti, and then Harold threw his slushy at him. As much as I disapprove of Harold doing this to Lock Jaw, I still enjoyed the fact that he got a bullseye. I didn't really see Arnold until we all got back into the bus. He was quiet and sad. I wonder what happened to him?**

**Dear Diary,**

**You'll never guess what happened last night. Someone was actually crazy enough to break into the aquarium and steal Lock Jaw; I hope it wasn't poachers. The police think it was some hippies that busted in and released him into the wild. Which is a pretty safe bet, because they found soap and sponges in Lock Jaw's tank, indicating that someone gave him a bath before they hijacked him.**

**Instinctively, I want to blame the whole thing on the security guard for not being at hi post; but we can't get too mad at him because he is in the hospital. Apparently he is like Harold. At night he messes with the animals. You know, feeding them things to make them sick, and putting his hand in the water to tease the man eaters. I wonder if he's the one that spray painted Lock Jaw. After all, who else could get close enough to do that? Well, idiot fell in the shark tank, so he won't be messing with animals any time soon. I hope the aquarium fires him, even if he did get hurt. They shouldn't want a guard who spends more time being mean to animals then doing his job.**

**Oh well, at least Arnold seems happy that Lock Jaw is free... almost too happy... would Arnold...? Nah, he couldn't have. Lock Jaw is over 400 pounds; Arnold couldn't life him even if he tried. Sorry beloved, but you are 9 and there is only so much you can pick up.**

Arnold turned off his phone and looked up at the sky. It was dark and full of bright little stars. He sighed and laid on his side, and his eyes landed on that little pink book he's had for so long. He needed to get to sleep, so he didn't want to reread it. Ok, that's a lie, he totally wanted to reread it, but he needed to go to sleep.

He quickly got out of bed and grabbed the little pink book. He got back in bed and held the book like it were some sort of bedtime toy and gently drifted to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! or it's characters.

Chapter 8,

**Dear Diary,**

**Today Arnold got assigned as Torvald's study buddy. I'm not entirely surprised that miss Slovak chose Arnold to do the job. First of all, Arnold'ssmart, and patient, and he won't laughat Torvald when he clearly messes up. Personally I don't have anything against him. I mean, he takes kid's lunch money, but that helps me get away from Brainy, so so can't complain too much.**

**In all honesty, he's a big, loud, stupid clout who lets his anger take over; so he reminds me of my father. I bet Bob was just like him, back in the day. But you know if Arnold's gonna help tutor Torvald, then perhaps he will actually be more successful then Bob. If Bob were more successful, would he have been a better father because he wouldn't have worried about money; or would he be worse because he would somehow be more selfish?**

**I don't know, but you know what else I just thought of? If Arnold actually gets Torvald to listen to him, then I can only imagine how Arnold would work my dad over. I don't really know what Arnold would work him over with, but I sure know I don't have that power.**

**The only reason he talked to me today is because he thought my yahoo soda was the last beer in the fridge- which I'm too young to drink, but more importantly he's been craving a beer all day. I showed him I was drinking a soda and then he relaxed when he realized Miriam put a 6-pack in the dish washer instead of the fridge. If you ask me, she put it there as an 'emergency supply', in case she runs out of smoothie ingredients.**

**Anyways, Arnold stayed after school with Torvald to Tutor him, but I guess it didn't go over well, because I hear Arnold's gonna go over to his house. I know that Arnold will do his very best to tutor Torvald, especially with that math test coming up. I suppose I won't see much of Arnold for the next few days, and I suppose that's alright. After all, I fell in love with how kind and sweet Arnold is, and I don't want him to change; not ever.**

**Dear Diary,**

**Dad took us out for chicken fingers for dinner. Mom will go shopping tomorrow for groceries, but he was hungry now, so it's a rare treat from Bob. When we got to the restaurant, I saw Torvald standing outside, looking in. At first, I thought he was hungry and couldn't afford to feed himself. When my family got our food, I looked out the window and I saw this depressing look on his face. I took a couple of napkins, put some chicken fingers and fries in it and wrapped it up and took it outside to Torvald. When I got closer, I saw that he was genuinely sad and staring at this blond worker that turned out to be his mother.**

**When he saw me, he told me to get lost and I told him to shut his trap and give me his hand. He got mad and he hauled back to hit me, so I lifted the food up so he could see it. He was shocked that I brought him food, and I convinced him to talk to me.**

**He told me that Arnold's been working hard to teach him math and in a way he can understand. Like, if he knocks out 3 of Joey's teeth, how many teeth would be left. But despite all their preparation and hard work, Torvald was still concerned that he was gonna fail.**

**It kinda reminded me of the time I played Olga's piano while my parents were out. I practiced the 'Minute Waltz', because my folks have always loved it when Olga played it for them. But then, just as I was prepared to play it in front of them, Olga walked in the door for a surprise visit. In the end, I couldn't bring myself to play the song because if I messed up, Olga would hop on the keys to correct me and Bob would constantly joke about how my 'Minute Waltz' was a minute wasted. Instead I played 'Chopsticks' and sulked up to my room as Olga played the new concerto she learned at school.**

**I don't think Torvald would necessarily understand why my piano would be similar to his math... but I told him that I can understand what it's like to constantly be angry, like him; and to try to be more then you are, like he is; and I can certainly understand avoiding the feeling of failure and rejection. I think he was willing to believe me because I can be a bully too. So if anyone was gonna understand how he feels, I would.**

**I asked Torvald to look at Big Bob and Miriam. I told him that he was similar to Bob, and he does make a lot of money but Bob is cheap, and greedy, and a terrible husband and father. I also told him that I believed with Arnold's help, Torvald will not only be a better business owner, but he'll be a better man then Bob could ever hope to be.**

**He wasn't sure if that was true, and I told him that Arnold cared about him, as much as his mother did. And I asked Torvald if he honestly had to choose, would he rather have a rich parent like Bob, or a loving parent like his mother, or who Arnold will one day be. Torvald was silent, so I decided to continue by saying that my mother drinks all the time. She was even spiking her slushy when I said this, so he knew I wasn't lying about it.**

**My mom is sad, and she is disappointed in her marriage, and how I heard mom was a little overachiever back in the day, and she gave it up for my dad. So one of two things could happen if Torvald doesn't try to take Arnold's advice. One, he's gonna become a drunk because he'll feel bad for constantly disappointing his mother, or his mother is gonna become a drunk because she'll think she's failed him. Not that really shook his gong.**

**I didn't stay long after that, because I didn't want Bob to eat all the food and leave me with nothing. The last thing I told him is that he's lucky. Even if he tries and fails, the fact that he tried will make his mother proud. And not everyone has that. I don't know if I got through to him, but hopefully, even if he doesn't do well for himself, or Arnold, hopefully, hopefully he'll just try for his mama.**

**Dear Diary,**

**Today was the big math test and it was way too easy; at least for me. It only took me two minutes to complete, but as usual, I waited before I turned in my test. Of course, I spent most of my time stealing glances at Arnold, so that's one reason to stay, even if there is a chance the teacher will accuse me of cheating.**

**I don't care if she does though. If anything it would add to my 'bad girl' rep, which can help ensure that Arnold doesn't learn my secret. And if so get caught cheating' maybe the teacher will assign Arnold to tutor me, like he tutored Torvald. Also, I don't turn in my test right away, because it would crush Phoebe.**

**Phoebe works so hard on being smart, she studies so much and she prides herself on being the smartest student in class. I'm naturally smart, so even though I rarely study and I don't really pay attention in class, and most the time I do my homework on the bus ride to school, I'm still an honor student. But I don't really care about being the smartest, or the strongest, or the prettiest- Lord knows I'm not the most feminine, and probably never will be.**

**I think I'd want to be a leader, though; maybe the president someday. I think I know how to let the smart people be smart; the strong people be strong; and the charitable people be charitable. The issue most people have, is that they don't know how to speak someone else's language; or they know and they refuse to do so.**

**That's another reason why I'm proud of Arnild when he tutored Torvald. He was trying to teach Torvald the traditional way, and then he realized the best way to communicate with Torvald is to explain it in bullying terms. You know, even after Arnold finished his test, he stood outside our classroom door and waited for Torvald to finish his test. Oh my sweet Arnold is so kindhearted.**

**After Phoebe finished her test, I waited a few minutes before I turned my test in as well. Arnold was so concerned about Torvald passing his test and it worried me a little. I know it's not really my place, but if Torvald failed his test, it would crush my sweet football headed hero. Gerald was gone by that point, so I thought if worst comes to worse, I can talk to Arnold.**

**Perhaps it won't work, but if I talk to Arnold I can talk about my dad being like Torvald, and how my dad is financially successful, and maybe that will help ease Arnold's mind. If Torvald is like my dad, he will work for a company and work until he's the owner and king of the beepers... er... or whatever Torvald sells.**

**I hid in my locker to watch Arnold wait for Torvald, who was the last kid to turn in their test. Torvald managed to get a C, which pleases both of them. So Arnold didn't need me, as usual. I left quietly behind them, so they wouldn't hear me, and I wouldn't get locked in the school overnight.**

**When I got home, dad was yelling at mom because once again she put the groceries on top of the car and drove off, crushing most everything. She broke the eggs, the milk, but of course the tequila is safe: those glass bottles of hers were put in the passenger seat with a seatbelt across it to keep it from moving.**

**Bob was just upset because it was meatloaf night and we can't have meatloaf because the package of ground beef busted opened when it fell. Instead we are having "sandwiches" of bread, ketchup, and cheese. Miriam thinks if we grill it, it should taste like a tomato soup and grilled cheese without the soup. The idea sounds intriguing, but the execution is so gross.**

**I mean, why not a tomato soup-esq. sauce and a soft cheese blend, say Brie and a touch of mascarpone so it's a little sweet, and grill that? Or you could go simple with a cheese sandwich dipped in a bowl of tomato soup, which is most likely thickened with a little corn starch, and then fry that. That's a little like French toast, but a more savory version. Or maybe you can make grilled cheese croutons and use that with tomato soup. If it's not cheesy enough, either add some cream cheese to the soup, or sprinkle mozzarella or Parmesan on top of the soup. But putting a squirt of ketchup on a slice of cheese that hopefully has been removed from it's plastic wrapper, and then grilled (or in Miriam's case burned)? Forget it. I'm just gonna take a bag of beef jerky up to my room and eat that. L**

**I started this new project anyways. I got really disheartened with not seeing Arnold everyday and it occurred to me that I could build a little half-statue of him. I set up this wooden body and a removable head. And as a spur of the moment decision (that I'll probably regret later) I started forming the outside of it with Arnold's A.B.C. gum. I'm shocked at how much fun that boy chews. I don't know if I'll keep it when it's done, I mean my closet is starting to look like some sort of Arnold shrine.**

**And I know it's a little crazy to have it at all, but in its effigy, it's nice to kinda coach myself to talk to Arnold kindly, sweetly, lovingly, and rehearsing different ways in which I can finally confess my real feeling to him. I'm sure I'll get there one day, I just need to keep practicing.**

"Hey Arnold! Move your motor, the herd's gotta get a move on!" Arnold's grandmother called up to him and Arnold blinked. Sure it was a little gross that Helga made a model of him out of gum, but he can not believe she talked to Torvald.

"Arnold, you're gonna be late." His mother called and Arnold quickly rushed down the stairs.

"Hi-ya, scout. Good thing you didn't break your neck there, I'm guessing you'll miss that." Grandpa Phil said and Arnold rushed to his cereal bowl and started eating.

"Hi, Arnold. How did you sleep?" Miles asked.

"I slept fine, I guess." Arnold said as he scarfed his food and Stella rose an eyebrow at this.

"It's ok to breathe while you eat, son." Stella said and Arnold nodded.

"I know, but I gotta catch my bus... done." Arnold said, leaving the table.

"I could-" Miles started, but Arnold had already grabbing his backpack and yelled 'bye' before rushing out the door. Stella picked up Arnold's discarded bowl and she looked at her husband.

"Hey, Miles. I was thinking about something last night and I'd like to hear you say that you got my back." Stella said and Miles chuckled.

"I always got your back, hon; not that you had any issues handling your own. So what are you gonna do?" Miles asked, putting down the paper as she sat down beside him.

"I want to go back over to the Pataki's house." Stella said and Miles blinked at her.

"If you're sure, that's what you want to do,!* won't stop you. But are you sure?" Miles asked and Stella nodded.

"You heard everyone talking about Mrs. Pataki's drinking problem last night. That's been going on for a long time and it's like no one cares that she's drinking herself to death. I think she's in serious need of a friend, and maybe if I work with her, then maybe I can help her heal a bit." Stella said and Miles took a deep breath through his nose, held it for about three seconds while he thought, then he let it go with a nod.

"I got your back, Stella." Miles said. Stella smiled widely and she leaned forward and gently kissed Miles.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! or it's characters.

Chapter 9,

Arnold and Gerald climbed into the bus and they sat together of course. Arnold looked out the window, and he didn't even notice when he started impatiently bouncing his knee. But Gerald noticed this immediately and he quickly got annoyed by it.

"Arnold man. You got to cut that out." Gerald said.

"Huh? Oh." Arnold said, when he noticed his knee. He then started to bounce his hand in a similar nature to his knee. Gerald rose an eyebrow at that.

"Arnold, what's plaguing your mind?" Gerald asked and Arnold glanced around, and he felt safe enough to tell Gerald.

"Ok, I'll tell you, but I don't want a lot of people to know about it because you know how our class can be, alright?" Arnold said and Gerald nodded.

"Just tell me." Gerald said and Arnold took a deep breath.

"Ok, well yesterday Phoebe gave me Helga's anniversary present for me. It was a book she wrote about our childhood. But it was all about me, and... not enough Helga." Arnold started sadly and Gerald nodded.

"Alright, continue." Gerald said.

"I convinced Phoebe to let me borrow her key for Helga's house. So I went up to Helga's room and I started reading her old diaries." Arnold said and Gerald's eyes widened.

"Man, are you crazy? If Helga wakes up and learns you did that, she will kill you." Gerald quietly hissed at him and Arnold's face fell.

"If she wakes up?" Arnold repeated with a broken voice, and Gerald sighed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." Gerald said and Arnold looked down at his phone.

"Phoebe told me that I can read her diaries for 2 hours everyday; as long as I take better care of myself. But I promised I wouldn't take the diary out of Helga's room, so when it was time to leave... I took a few pictures of the diary so that I could read it without taking the book out of the room." Arnold said.

"And what? Now you're feeling guilty?" Gerald asked and Arnold shook his head.

"No, not that. I've been reading a lot, but now I'm almost done with the pictures I took. And I won't be able to read more of the diary until after school." Arnold said and Gerald scoffed.

"Man, you're twitching like Chocolate Boy." Gerald said and Arnold paused.

"I am?" Arnold asked and Gerald nodded.

"A little bit man. It looks like you're getting addicted to Helga's diary." Gerald said.

"Oh?" Arnold said and he looked down at his hands. Now he was sitting a little too still.

"Arnold, don't be that way." Gerald said and Arnold sighed.

"You might be right though. I'm sitting here, just trying to hold off until lunch to read more, but I just can't stand it. It really would break my heart if Phoebe revoked her key privileges." Arnold said and Gerald blinked.

"What exactly did you agree to?" Gerald asked and Arnold rubbed the back of his neck.

"She allows me to borrow the key as long as I take better care of myself, and to return the key after my two hours are up, and I'm not to remove anything. She wants me to keep Helga's room the same as I left it and she can add new rules or make the key whenever she wants." Arnold said. For a moment, Gerald was silent as he mulled over these conditions.

"I'd like to walk with you to Helga's house today." Gerald said and Arnold blinked.

"Why?" Arnold asked.

"When we get to Helga's place, I want you to give me the key for about 30 minutes, an hour tops." Gerald said and Arnold got even more confused.

"But why?" Arnold asked and Gerald crosses his arms over his chest.

"Arnold, do you trust me?" Gerald asked and Arnold sighed.

"You know I do." Arnold said and Gerald nodded.

"Good. Then you know I won't do anything to you Helga, or that key. So... just trust me, ok?" Gerald said and Arnold nodded.

"You're a bold kid, Gerald." Arnold said.

"Will you stop stealing my lines?" Gerald said and they both laughed.

-

"Mrs. Pataki? Mrs. Pataki?" Miriam heard and she groaned at the sound. She felt a hand on her shoulder and it felt odd.

"B? Did your hands shrink?" Miriam asked as she blinked her eyes opened.

"Who are you?" Miriam asked when she saw a strange woman in front of her.

"My name is Stella. We met last night; do you remember?" Stella asked and Miriam struggled to remember... anything.

"How did you get inside my house?" Miriam asked and Stella blinked at this.

"Well, your front door was-"

"Oh, my god. You're sleeping with Bob, aren't you? How could B cheat on me? I gave up everything to be with him." Miriam said, as tears flowed down her face.

"Honey, honey, come on. I am not sleeping with Bob." Stella said and Miriam sniffled.

"Really?" Well... wait, you aren't sleeping with me, are you?" Miriam asked and Stella chuckled.

"No. Now how about we move you from the stairs to the couch; it's comfier there." Stella said and she carefully helped Miriam to her feet.

"I don't understand." Miriam stated as she shifted most of her weight onto Stella.

"What don't you understand?" Stella asked and Miriam wrapped her arms around this friendly stranger.

"If you're not sleeping with me or my husband, then why are you being nice to me? What do you want?" Miriam asked as they walked to the couch.

"Do I have to want something in order to be nice to you?" Stella asked as she put Miriam onto the couch.

"In my experience... yes." Miriam said and Stella grew sad at this comment.

"Well, the only thing I want to do is talk and perhaps be your friend." Stella said and Miriam scoffed, but it sounded more like a zerbert.

"Fine, don't tell me." Miriam said, draping her arm over her eyes and Stella stared at Miriam for a moment this depressed lost soul.

"I'll close the front door and put on a pot of coffee." Stella said, walking out of the room.

When she stepped away, Stella saw a picture on the wall. It had Miriam, a man that must have been Bob, and a younger blond woman. Did the Pataki's have another daughter? Where was she during this whole coma situation? Wait... where...? There's no pictures of Helga anywhere? Stella took a deep breath as she realized the work she had ahead of her.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold or it's characters.

Chapter 10,

Miriam was suspicious of Stella for a few minutes longer, but soon she forgot that Stella was a stranger.

"You know, the way you pour that coffee reminds me of my daughter Olga." Miriam said as she took a sip from her mug.

"Now I don't know what she does, but she can make the best coffee you ever tasted." She continued. Stella had moved Miriam to the dining room table and they drank the coffee together, like a couple of girlfriends.

"Now Olga is your older daughter?" Stella asked and Miriam nodded.

"Yeah, she is so amazing. I taught her how to play the piano and she's such a peach. So kind and so talented, just like I use to be." Miriam said with a dry laugh and then she moved back in her chair.

"Oh, I hope she never gets married." Miriam muttered, but Stella heard her as clear as a bell.

"What did you want to be when you were growing up?" Stella asked and Miriam shrugged lazily.

"Does it really matter now? I'm now someone's wife and a mother... just like my mother wanted for me. Sta-(hick) stability." Miriam said and Stella's eyes widened.

"You got married because your mother wanted you to get married?" Stella asked and Miriam hesitated.

"Well... I mean I loved Bob. I mean, I still love Bob, I suppose. I just fell in love with how sweet he use to be, and the way he lit up when AJ told him my accomplishments and my dreams for the future. He was the cutest thing you ever saw, I swear. Mom said if so loved him, then I should marry him. I could still do all the stuff I wanted to do, until I had kids of my own. So when B proposed, I said yes." Miriam said and Stella nodded slightly.

"Then what happened?" Stella asked and Miriam sighed.

"I got pregnant with Olga. And we were happy. Bob worked as a stock boy, so he started working extra shifts to pay for the extra things he needed to buy Olga. I stayed home with her and put on classical music and operas to share with her. And then... oh..." Miriam recalled something painful to her, and she looked down at her mug.

"You want me to make you a smoothie?" Miriam asked and Stella's face fell a bit.

"No, thank you." Stella said.

"Well, I want a smoothie." Miriam said, standing up and going into the kitchen. Stella followed her and took the vodka out of her hand, the second Miriam touched it.

"You've got to stop relying on this." Stella said and Miriam glared at Stella. She hauled back and punched Stella, which knocked her down.

"This is my house! You don't get to come here and boss me around. I don't know why you're here, but I don't care!" Miriam screamed. Stella rubbed her sore cheek and looked up at the raging woman.

"How dare you disrespect me by coming in here, telling me what I can and can't do and disturbing the junk I swept under the rug year’s ago! What do you have to say for yourself?" Miriam asked. Stella was angry, but she took a deep breath and calmed herself. After all, you can't reason with alcohol, no matter how badly she wanted to beat alcohol to a bloody pulp.

"Would you rather go out for lunch?" Stella asked stiffly and Miriam blinked at her.

"What?" She asked as she carefully watched Stella standing up.

"I'll take you out for lunch, but under the condition that you don't drink any alcohol during the meal." Stella said.

"I don't know." Miriam said and Stella smirked.

"It's just one little meal, Miriam. Just one. Are you telling me that you can't last one meal without a drink?" Stella said in a slight teasing tone and Miriam straightened her back.

"Of course I can." Miriam said, accepting Stella's challenge and Stella smiled.

"Good, I'm glad. Would you like to change clothes before we head out?" Stella asked and Miriam crosses her arms over her chest.

"I look just fine, for your information. What are you gonna do if someone asks you about your face?" Miriam asked.

"I'll be honest and tell them you hit me for taking your booze away." Stella said nonchalantly and Miriam blinked at her.

"You... you can't do that." Miriam said and Stella nodded.

"You did something wrong and you are gonna need to live and deal with it. Especially since, if you ever try to hit me again, I will break your arm before you touch me." Stella said, glaring at Miriam so darkly, that it scared the alcoholic.

"O-ok." Miriam said like a 5-year old child.

"Good, now let's go get some lunch." Stella said and they walk out of the house.

-

At P.S.118, Arnold was basically twitching when he finally made it to the cafeteria. He went through the line, absentmindedly as his cellphone burned a hole in his pocket.

"Evening Arnold." He turned and saw Phoebe standing beside him.

"Hey-llo." He said, nervously. Phoebe rose an eyebrow at him, and that made him more nervous.

"Is everything alright?" Phoebe asked and Arnold struggled to think up an answer.

"No... I'm just, um, reading a story on my phone... and, um. I'm anxious to read the new chapter." Arnold said and it was partly true.

"Intriguing. I have read several stories on my kindle, so perhaps I've read it. What is the story called?" Phoebe asked and Arnold bit his lip. Of course he was stupid enough to be trapped by a reader. Is there anything she doesn't read...? Wait-

"I don't think you'd like it, it's fanfiction." Arnold said and Phoebe looked annoyed.

"Oh. Well, at least reading stimulates the mind." Phoebe said and Arnold relaxed a little.

Since Helga has been in a coma, Phoebe has been sitting with him and Gerald during lunch. As soon as they sat down, Arnold wanted to start reading, but then he remembered that part of his agreement was to take better care of himself. When Gerald sat down, he and Phoebe engaged in some conversation that Arnold blocked out of his mind.

Instead he focused on eating his meal quickly, but not so fast that it got Phoebe's attention. When he was done with his lunch, he tossed the trash and put away his tray. And he pulled out his phone and finally, finally, he got to read more of Helga's diary.

**Dear Diary,**

**Today Geraldwas telling us about being over atArnold's house... oh, ok, actually he told the boys, but I wasn't about to miss the opportunity to listen in. I hid in a trash can and eavesdroppedon the conversation. First Gerald mentioned how last week Arnold was at his house for a sleepover, and Gerald suddenly realized that not only had he never slept over at Arnold's place, but the only room Gerald's really seen, was Arnold's room. So Gerald kinda invited himself over.**

**Now I know Arnold lives in a boarding house, and there's several different characters that live there with him. But it didn't occur to me that when the rent needs to be collected, Arnold would be responsible for collecting it.**

**Gerald talked about chickens; a man who collects bricks, and smashes buildingmodels; a man that is obsessed with privacy; fixing pipes, setting down tile, putting up new wallpaper; watching Arnold catch everything an apartment has to offer; and then Arnold stopped all the boarders from fighting, by ringing a gong and announcing that dinner was served. They fell asleep on the roof, looking up at the stars.**

**I gotta say, I'm a little jealous of Gerald being able to go to Arnold's house and experience all that firsthand. The only think I can do is simply hope that I'll be able to live in the boarding house one day. There, I wouldn't be seen as a freak. If anything, it sounds like one place I could actually belong. Not only with Arnold, but with his unconventional family. After all, he lives with strangers who love him more then my parents have ever tried to love me.**

**Great, now I'm making myself sad. Perhaps I can go on and on about how life might be like there, and the various experiences I could have... but right now, I'm trying to block out the sound of Bob yelling at Miriam... and if I think about the joy of Arnold's house, well... it would only make my situation seem worse then it actually is...**

**Oh, well, though... at least I'll be able to live vicariously through the stories Gerald tells. And that should hopefully tide me over until I can experience the real thing for myself.**

Arnold lowered his phone. It was such a comfort to read Helga's words after the hours of waiting. However it seemed like the more he read Helga's diary, the more he realized how sad her life was. He always knew Helga was an angry person, and that her parents were... unreliable.

He was always a little jealous of her, though. She was able to grow up with her parents, when he did not. He typically figured that it was better to have imperfect parents, then no parents at all. But now he's thinking that may not be as true as he once thought. Perhaps it's more complicated than any other issue he's dared worked with.

However, what can he do? Helga was in the hospital, Bob was suing the hospital, and Miriam kept drinking next to the hospital. Perhaps there's a way to help, he just needs to figure it out.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! or it's characters.

Chapter 11,

Stella decided to take Miriam to El Patio, because Mr. Hyunh was the head chef there. Stella knee that he would help keep an eye on Miriam, and he would inform her if Miriam snuck some alcohol after she promised not to.

"So tell me about your daughter Olga." Stella tried again when they were seated.

"Well, what do you want to know?" Miriam asked and Stella shrugged.

"I guess I'm curious as to where she is. I mean with Helga in the hospital, I would think that she would want to come and visit her sister." Stella said. Right before Miriam could answer, Mr. Hyunh ran to the front door.

"Mai!" He said excitedly and Stella giggled when she watched Mr. Hyunh hug his daughter. Miriam turned to look at them and she smiled too.

"Oh, they're so cute." Miriam said.

"Yes, I agree." Stella said.

"You were asking about Olga, well, she looks about as old as that young lady there." Miriam said. Stella glanced at Miriam and she rose an eye at her.

"You know we can ask Mai if she would like to join us for lunch, if you'd like." Stella offered and Miriam hesitated.

"Oh, I'm sure she doesn't want to hang out with a bunch of wives." Miriam said and Stella smiled at Miriam.

"Hey, Mai. Want to join us?" Stella waved to her and Mai came over to them.

"Hi, Stella; whose your friend?" Mai asked as she sat next to Stella and smiled at Miriam.

"This is Miriam Pataki. She's the mother of Helga." Stella said and Mai blinked.

"Arnold's girlfriend, Helga?" Mai asked and Stella nodded.

"I'm sorry about your daughter, Mrs. Pataki." Mai said, reaching out and gently resting her hand on Miriam's. For a brief moment, Miriam Starr's at Mai's hand; as if the touch surprised her.

"Um..." Miriam hesitated and she slowly pulled her hands away from Mai's.

"We were talking about my daughter Olga. She's about your age." Miriam said, she pulled out her wallet from her purse and showed them both a picture of Olga. Here, she was holding a bouquet of roses and wearing a gorgeous formal gown.

"That's when she performed at the Bridges Hall of Music in California. I wasn't able to go personally, but she sent me a video of it. She played Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, Clair de Lune, Nocturne in E flat major, and Kinderszenen; just to make a few." Miriam said and Mai whistled, impressed.

"Those can be pretty hard." Mai said and Miriam nodded.

"Maybe for most people, but Olga had always had a knack for doing the best and brightest stuff around." Miriam said.

"Smart and insanely pretty." Mai commented, biting a small portion of her lip when she looked back at Olga's picture. Stella rose an eyebrow at Mai, but decided to ignore this reaction.

"So, what is she doing now?" Stella asked. Miriam pulled back her wallet and looked at the picture.

"She's on a charity tour. Her idea, you understand. Performing classical music for the different orphanages across the states. Giving the kids front row seats to the show, while 70% of the profits go to the kids." Miriam said.

"Wow." Mai said and Stella nodded.

"I understand that's very honorable work. I can sympathize and see why she would want to stay on the tour instead of coming down to be with Helga in the hospital." Stella said and Miriam put her wallet away and then she stared at her hands.

"She doesn't know." Miriam admitted and Stella and Mai looked at each other.

"Why not?" Mai asked and Miriam sighed.

"Bob doesn't want me to tell her. Something about Olga being too sensitive to handle the news. Why bother her with something like this, when it won't do any good. Either she stops the tour to come down and be with us, or she stays to finish her show, but she'll be too sad to perform well." Miriam said.

"Well, I don't see anything wrong with her pausing her tour. She can always pick it back up and finish it later." Mai said and Miriam rolled her eyes.

"Bob pulled some strings to get some talent scouts at her final performance in New York. They'll see her and represent her, and she'll get rich and famous and take us with her." Miriam said sadly and then she stood up and looked around.

"I gotta pee... where's, uh... the pee room?" Miriam asked and Stella sighed.

"The restroom is in the corner there." Stella said and Miriam nodded.

"Ok." She said and she started walking that way. Stella reaches over and grabbed Miriam's purse.

"Can I look at your address book?" Stella asked.

"Whatever." Miriam said, with a dismissive wave. Stella looked through the purse and she found a tiny booklet and handed it to Mai.

"Listen, I'm gonna make sure she doesn't drink anything. I want to see if you can get a hold of Olga. If you can, I'd like you to talk to her and tell her about Helga." Stella said.

"Won't that make Stella mad?" Mai asked and Stella took a deep breath.

"I don't know. But quite honestly, Miriam tends to light up when she talks about Olga. Being around Olga might help to get her to stop drinking, or at least go to AA meetings." Stella said as she stood up.

"Besides, their family is kinda divided. You should have seen all the pictures and trophies of Olga's. And it's like Helga doesn't even exist. If this family is gonna heal at all, they should at least try to do it together." Stella said and Mai sighed.

"Alright." Mai agreed.

"Do you need money for the pay phone, or do you have one of those mobile cellular devices?" Stella asked and Mai giggled.

"You really got to pull yourself out of the 80's, Stella. Yes, I have a cellphone." Mai said and Stella rolled her eyes.

"I know, I know, I'm working on it." Stella commented as she followed Miriam. Mai pulled out her phone and dialed Olga's number.

"Hello?" Mai blushed when she heard the Marilyn Monroe-esq. tone of Olga's voice.

"Uh... Olga Pataki?" Mai asked.

"This is she." Olga said happily and Mai nodded.

"Listen, you don't know me, but my name is Mai Hyunh." Mai said and Olga's giggle made her smile.

"Pleased to meet you, Ms. Hyunh. What can I do for you?" Olga said and Mai rubbed the back of her neck.

"Well... I'm actually calling you to tell you what happened to you sister, Helga." Mai said slowly, and Olga was silent for the longest time. Mai could hear the faint sound of typing and some voices in the background.

"I can be on a plane tomorrow night. I can rent an electric cat today if it's more serious. Now... tell me everything." Olga said, and once again, Mai was impressed.

-

When the final bell rang for P.S.118, Arnold quickly let up with Phoebe, with Gerald following him. Arnold has a large smile on his face.

"I still have to go feed Helga's monitor lizard. I guess we can walk there together." Phoebe commented and she grabbed Gerald's hand and they all started walking. Arnold was walking faster then his friends and he tried not to get annoyed when he turned back and saw them walking behind him.

"Man, relax." Gerald said and Arnold shoved his hands in his pockets to hid the way they were quaking with the excitement of being able to hold and read Helga's diary.

"I'd relax more if you guys walked faster." Arnold muttered under his breath.

"I'm sorry." Arnold said simply.

"Oh, we're almost there, now. Here's the key, Arnold. Why don't you go ahead and unlock the door." Phoebe said, handling the key to Arnold, and he took it without question. He rushed on ahead and unlocked the Pataki home. He took a deep breath in and sighed happily before he went up to Helga's room.

His eyes instantly landed on Helga's closet. He recalled Helga writing about making a statue of him out of ABC gum and how her closet was looking like a shrine. He hesitantly went over to the closet, opened the closet door, pushed aside her clothes, and saw... nothing. With the house, he closed Helga's closet door and went over to the bed.

"Arnold?" Gerald said, poking his head into the room and Arnold smiled at him.

"I can't describe the feeling of being back here." Arnold said and Gerald walked over to him.

"Give me the key while Phoebe feeds that lizard." Gerald said. Arnold bit his lip, still unwilling to let the key out of his sight. But even though he didn't know why Gerald wanted they key, Arnold still trusted him enough to take good care of it.

"Here." Arnold said and Gerald grabbed it.

"Alright, I'm gonna walk Phoebe to the hospital and I'll be back with the key in about an hour." Gerald said and Arnold nodded slowly.

"Ok." Arnold said and Gerald left the room. Arnold soon heard the front door close and Arnold grabbed Helga's diary and started reading.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! or it's characters.

Chapter 12,

**Dear Diary,**

**Over the past few days, Arnold has been hard at work trying to get this kite to fly. Gerald's ready to give up on it, but you and I both know that Arnold won't quit until he gets it to fly at least once. He's so determined that way. But he's been working on the kite so much, that I even had a dream of Arnold flying through the sky on a kite, talking to the clouds.**

**Regardless, I finally finished my ABC gum monument to Arnold. I got the last piece of gum earlier when Arnold and Gerald were talking about the aerodynamics of their kite.**

**The only thing I didn't have was something to be his hat. I figured that, since the statue was of Arnold's gum, then the hat might as well be Arnold's hat. I wonder how many of those hats he has, I mean, I almost never see him without it. Surely he won't miss one little old hat, right?**

**I tried to reach out and grab it when he walked by, but I lost my balance and fell in a trash can. Then so tried to be a little more sneaky and get the hat with a fishing pole. However, instead of his hat, I hooked some delivery truck and it dragged me straight through a pigeon coup. I sat on the roof all upset about not getting the hat, and miraculously with a gust of wind, Arnold's hat landed on the roof in front of me.**

**I gently carried it home and put it on the statue... uh... I won't describe what I did next, I'd rather forget that.**

**I'm feeling so good, I think I'll go celebrate with some Jolly Olly ice cream.**

**Dear Diary,**

**Part of me feels like I've been through hell and back, and part of me feels like I've died and gone to heaven. Let me start from the beginning.**

**When I found the Jolly Olly man, he had crashed into a fire hydrant outside Arnold's house. He must have had a concussion or something, because he was happily giving away all of his ice cream. I knew he must have needed a doctor, but why can't we have some ice cream before he returns to his bitter old self? I like to think it helps to make up for some of the rotten stuff he's done to us is the past.**

**I hear Gerald calling up to Arnold and Arnold's response was that he was never going to leave his house for the rest of his life. I felt so guilty that I couldn't even get mad at Gerald for how insensitive he was towards the whole ordeal. It was wrong of me to take Arnold's hat, and I decided right then and there to rush home and return it to him.**

**But when I did, I discovered that Miriam had dismantled and thrown out the whole display I built. Ignoring how long it took for me to assemble and trying to figure out why Miriam had the sudden urge to A. Go into my room, B. Go into my closet, and C. To do any sort of cleaning... I rushed out to the garbage truck, just to breath in a cloud of exhaust as they drove away.**

**But I needed to get that hat back before Arnold became a hermit, or worse, become an angry or miserable person like Bob or Miriam. I may not be able to change my parents, but I wasn't about to sit around and watch Arnold turn into one of them.**

**I went straight to the dump, hopped the fence and started digging through the garbage. After three hours of searching, I found a pigeon engulfed by Arnold's hat and I was so thankful to see it.**

**I hightailed it to the bus, and the ride sucked. I reeked to high heaven, and I could see people grimacing, and the driver complained when I was walking off the bus. How annoying.**

**But I bumped into Arnold right after that, and he was so grateful to have his hat back, that he hugged me. Of course, when he let go, he kinda gave me this weird smile, before he said goodbye. The feeling of his hug and the look of that smile burn into my mind.**

**He's so beautiful with or without his hat, but if it makes him so happy that he hugs me... well... I hope one day he feels like he loves and needs me, as much as he loves and needs that cute hat of his...**

**Dear Diary,**

**Have an ever told you about Stoop Kid? He's a kid a couple of years older then us, and he lives on the stoop of this vacant building. But he's mean to anyone who comes in his direction, and he'll hurt anyone who messes with his stoop.**

**Some people say he was abandoned there as a baby. Others say aliens left him, or even that he grew from a seed in the cracks of the stoop. It's kinda ridiculous, since we only know that Stoop Kid's been there for 6 years. It's actually sad, really...**

**The other day, I heard that Arnold dropped his football on that stoop and then he figured out that Stoop Kid was afraid to leave his stoop, and he rushed by and retrieved his ball back. Well, I felt terrible for the kid. Everyone was chanting and bullying him, and using his own fear against him. I'm kind of afraid that's what will happen if I confess my feelings to Arnold. I can't even describe the emotions that plagued me when I heard the echo of Stoop Kid's wailing into the night.**

**But today, Arnold managed to work a miracle and got Stoop Kid to leave his stoop. It almost seems ridiculous how much press came to see it. But you know, Arnold worked with him to leave the stoop, and even though I don't see Stoop Kid 'moving' any time soon, that's still an impressive feat.**

**Actually, Bob got mad at the whole situation. He said that Stoop Kid didn't deserve to be in the papers, and he told me a story that may or may not be real.**

**He said Stoop Kid's parents actually owned that building he's living in front of. But one day the mother died, and they lost all their money. Stoop Kid and his father were homeless, struggling to find food and work. Often times, they would sleep outside the home they once owned, since they were no longer able to go inside.**

**Bob says he knows why Stoop Kid is so scared to leave his stoop, 'read it all in the paper'. According to Bob, early one morning, Stoop Kid's father stepped off the stoop and got hit by a car. Three days later, they discover that Stoop Kid saw the whole thing. They tried to remove him, but he became so violent, they decided to let him stay there until he was ready to leave.**

**But he wasn't completely alone because they had some psychologist visiting him. Not only does this, Dr. Bliss chick, talk to him and bring him food, but some other adults, like the mailman Harvey and the butcher Mr. Green, occasionally brought him things too.**

**I can't imagine being so messed up that I need to see a shrink and people actually feel sorry for me. But if Bob is telling the truth, then I wish he wouldn't get so angry at some kid for actually healing a little bit.**

**Actually... dare I say, I think it's nice that so many people are helping him. He might be a really angry person, but some of the angriest people need the most love. I can understand that, and I wouldn't dare take that away.**

**Dear Diary,**

**Stupid heat wave... I woke up drenched in sweat in this 106 degree heat. And if it wasn't bad enough the streets are lined with overflowing trash cans because of the citywide sanitation strike that's been going on the past few days. The heat's just makes the smell ten times worse. That might help their cause now, but when they get back to work, that first day is really gonna suck.**

**Bob doesn't seem very bothered by the heatwave, but he actually has air conditioning in his room. Says it's to protect his precious beeper belt, and if he is in tip-top condition, then the rest of the family will prosper because he'll still be selling like a matching.**

**You know, one might wonder why he doesn't have air conditioning in Olga's trophy room, but Bob set up 6 fans just to keep them from melting.**

**I was a little worried about Miriam, though. Alcohol dries out your body and in this heat, she could really get dehydrated, maybe even have a heatstroke. She told me not to worry about her because she put enough ice in her smoothie to keep her cool. Highly unlikely, if you ask me, since she's had a heatstroke before; so I pulled a small prank on my mother.**

**Her vodka bottle was really low and when she left the room, I picked it up and filled the rest of it with water. I've only done this a few times, because sometimes Miriam can tell it's been watered down and she'll throw a fit. However, with this heat melting her ice so fast, I doubt she'll notice. Even if she did, it's way too hot for her to care.**

**I went out to get some ice cream, and that Jolly Olly jerk had jacked up the prices. I told him he couldn't do this to us because it was so inhuman. All the kids were angry that he was charging roughly 20 for anything worth having.**

**Then, out of nowhere, like a cowboy defending his town, Arnold appeared. He grabbed that man by the collar of his uniform and told him that his air conditioner broke down, he got a bag of ice that melted before he got home, the pool and theater were too crowded to get in, and now, finally he finds something to cool himself down, just a little ice cream, and Jolly Olly snatched that away from him.**

**That cold jerk, though that's not the word I want to use, was completely Unphased by hearing all this. In fact, he drove Arnold to start protesting. Oh, it was almost overwhelming to see the way Arnold convinced all the kids to chant 'no ice cream, no peace'. They were all so consumed by Arnold's words, that they never noticed my dopey admiration for the boy.**

**I guess I kinda took over the mob at that point, because Arnold stepped away from the crowd. I climbed on top of the Jolly Olly truck and demanded a fair price we kids could afford. We gave him a chance to speak, but Jolly Olly barely budged.**

**I demanded that we flip the truck, and they didn't even wait for me to get down before they started shaking it. I almost fell over, but I climbed down and then we all started shaking the truck. Heck, even happy little Eugene got in on the action. Granted he broke his back, but he was still rebel enough to try.**

**Then Arnold yelled 'Excuse me' and he started talking about the Jolly Olly man actually being our friend. Which sooo isn't true. If he was our friend, we would know simple things about each other, like names. I don't know what his real name is, only that we call him 'Jolly Olly man'. And you know, I'll call Harold 'fat boy', every once in a while, but I've never heard Jolly Olly calling him Harold, even once. He is cruel and mean to all of us, and doesn't even pretend to hide it. Man, I can't even imagine his home life, it must be worse then mine.**

**Though I was personally impressed with the fact that Arnold noticed and remembered the fact that I get chocolate-covered bubblegum drumsticks, I didn't want to blame all of this on the heat. I still wanted to flip the truck.**

**Then, all of a sudden, it got dark and I felt water on my skin. It was raining, and it was wonderful. We played in the rain as the Jolly Olly man escaped. When I got home, I heard the announcer say it was gonna rain heavily for the rest of the week, with a 60 mile an hour wind.**

**I was almost glad to be freezing when I went through the kitchen to grab a microwave meal. It's gonna suck go walk to school in the rain like that. But hopefully I'll still have my raincoat, or an umbrella, or something. Well, even if I don't, I'll survive. After all, I first met Arnold in the rain, so many years ago.**

**Dear Diary,**

**Late last night, the rain grew cold and turned into snow. The first snow of the season, too; 14 inches. So, like any decent kid, I turned on the radio in my room to listen to the school closures.**

**I don't know about you, diary, but I want to try and enjoy every snowfall I can. As kids, snow is like a blessing from the sky, blanketing the town and transforming it into a giant sled hill.**

**But then you grow up and you see it as one giant traffic jam. Doing a bunch of extra chores you don't want to do, and doing your normal routine in the cold.**

**Bob was on the phone yelling at some employee who can't make it to work, because his car is snowed it. Miriam is in the kitchen with her bedsheet wrapped around her trying to make... I don't know, Irish coffee, hot buttered rum, hot toddy, eggnog? I never know anymore; but it's too cold for smoothies, so she needed to make something warm to drink.**

**And when Harvey stopped by to drop off our mail, he was talking about how he hated the snow, as if it were a song.**

**Seems like the only adult who likes the snow is Arnold's grandmother. She put together some makeshift bobsled, and was screaming 'must rescue the missionaries' when she passed our house. I may not know much about her, but I love that crazy lady. She's so fun, I can't wait for her to be my family.**

**Dear Diary,**

**I met up with Phoebe and we put together some snowmen. I know it's silly, but I made one that looked like Arnold. It was cute, and I wanted to kiss it, but then Phoebe realized what I had built, and I was forced to karate chop his head off.**

**Shortly after that, we went to the snow hill and took turns sliding down it. I told Phoebe that it was odd to see Gerald without Arnold glued to his side, and Phoebe went ahead and asked Gerald where Arnold was. A small part of me was concerned that she asked because she knew I wanted to know, but... I really, really wanted to know. Gerald told us that he got stuck doing chores with his grandfather.**

**By the time 2:00 rolled around, I noticed the snow starting to melt, and I kind of submitted to the fact that I wasn't gonna be able to play with Arnold. Tomorrow the snow would be gone, and things would return back to normal.**

**But then suddenly Arnold's grandfather did something to make his wife proud. He grabbed three water hoses and doused the street in water, until it smoothed over and created our own personal ice rink. I stopped Working on the snowman that looked like me, and rushed over to this winter hazard.**

**We started playing ice hockey and Arnold's grandmother joined our game, wearing full gear too. Man, I loved it when she knocked that demolisher into his own goal so hard it dinted the metal with his outline. Man I Love That Crazy Lady!!!**

**And then, to my surprise, I see Arnold charging right at me and I had to jump over him to avoid getting hit. Man, he looked like he was having a lot of fun. Of course part of that could be a result of Ruth giving him goo-goo eyes.**

**We skated around for what seemed like a lifetime; us kids and the borders. And when it got dark and really cold, Arnold's grandfather got a barrel fire going and we all warmed up by it's flames. We talked and told stories and sang songs late into the night, and I didn't want to go home.**

**The only other noteworthy thing, I suppose, was I passed Stoop Kid on my bus ride home, and I saw some woman giving him a blanket and a coat to him, so he can stay warm. It made me think dad's story about Stoop Kid was real, and this must be that psychiatrist trying to help him. Oh, what was her name? Oh, well, it will come to me later.**

**Hey... do you think Arnold would have been willing to help Stoop Kid if he hadn't been forced to help Torvald? I guess that's kind of a stretch huh. He was scared of Torvald and Stoop Kid, and somehow earned their trust and helped them both out. I don't know...**

**I mean, he liked Frankie G, before he shoved him in a window. And he helped Tucker, well, I'm pretty sure he did, anyways. Arnold's just a really caring person. Always has been.**

**Dear Diary,**

**After school, Phoebe and I walked to the Corner Store to pick up some candy and I was asking her what she wanted to do tomorrow. But much to my dismay, Phoebe wants to go to Rhonda's sleepover, because they're gonna do makeovers and a bunch of girly stuff.**

**Technically Rhonda invited all the girls, except me. I think Phoebe wanted my permission to go to Rhonda's party, and begrudgingly I gave it. After all, I got a million better things to do on a Saturday night, then be stuck in a room with a bunch of sissy girls.**

**Dear Diary,**

**I went out to play baseball with the boys, but they told me they were having a boy's only game, so I couldn't play with them. Then Harold said I wasn't girl enough to be invited to the slumber party, and all the boys started teasing me. Well, I didn't actually see Arnold and Gerald making fun of me, but they didn't do anything to stop it, either. They just sat on a stoop and watched me squirm like everyone else did. Finally, I made them stop by chasing down Harold and giving him a piece of my mind.**

**But I was still upset at the whole ordeal. I like to think of myself as pretty and feminine, and delicate... of course, if I was really like that, people wouldn't think that I was a boy when I bumped into them.**

**I decided to stop by the sleepover. I thought that if I stopped by and see how boring it was, then I wouldn't feel so wrong about not being invited. But when I got there, I saw Rhonda doing impressions of me, teasing me behind my back to make everyone else laugh their guts out. Even Phoebe.**

**I started to think maybe their was something wrong with me. Too much of a girl to be with the boys, to much of a boy for the girls, too much of a kid to be taken seriously, and too much of an adult to see the world through rose-colored glasses. I decided right then and there that I was going to change who I am. It's not easy to stand to the side and be the subject of ridicule for everyone.**

**I went to the corner store and picked up 4 tough magazines and one sissy magazine, hoping to sneak out without anyone suspecting anything. After all, the cashier is Gerald's mom, so there's a chance whatever I do around her will get to Gerald, and Arnold by extension.**

**I think I would have gotten away with it, if the Preteen Miss scanned properly. Gerald's mom shouted and asked what the price of that magazine was, and I swear all eyes were on me. I was so embarrassed I pretended I didn't see it and bought it anyways to line my birdcage. I put down a bill and ran out of there. I can't imagine what she thinks of me and what she'll tell people. But hopefully by tomorrow, my new image will speak for itself.**

**I'm a little nervous, though. I didn't want to change who I was for anyone. I never thought that I would change for everyone. The thought of using Miriam's makeup makes me feel uneasy, but if it gets me accepted in this world, then it's something I've got to do, right?**

**Besides, with competition like Ruth McDougal, I'm starting to doubt that Arnold would ever like me for my own tomboy self. Oh, let's get this over with.**

**Dear Diary,**

**I did everything I was suppose to. I put on fake nails, mascara, lipstick, plucked my eyebrow, threw away my old bow, and did my hair.**

**I got to tell you, the bow was a big thing for me. After all, my bow was the first thing Arnold ever liked about me. Sometimes I think it's the only thing he likes about me. But if I was really gonna change myself, then I couldn't keep the bow; it had to go.**

**Of course, Miriam kept bothering me, and eventually when I opened the door, my mother fainted at the very sight of me. I changed my clothes and went over to Rhonda's party. I mean, I had a point to prove. I was incredibly feminine and girlie and everyone thought I looked great. Well, sort of.**

**Phoebe insisted that she talk to me in private. She knew that I was pretending to be into all this girlie stuff, and she liked the old Helga because she was honest, instead of this. I disagreed with her, until I saw the other girls with that green facial funk on their faces. I couldn't go through with it, and I snapped back to the old Helga.**

**I told them all this stuff was stupid. Why get facials to reduce wrinkles when we don't have wrinkles at nine years old? And they were like, 'this is what girls do. What could be more fun?'**

**And then we heard a sound outside and we opened the curtain to see the boys making faces at us. We screamed, they screamed, and we chased them down the street. We captured Harold when he tripped, dragged him back to Rhonda's place and gave him a makeover. Not that's what I call fun.**

**You know, I may not be like the other girls, but maybe that's alright. After all, there's only one Helga G Pataki in the world; why muddle her up with forcing myself to be more girlie then I really am?**

A loud knock forced Arnold to stop reading, and he tended at the sound.

"Arnold, open up man." Gerald said and Arnold immediately relaxed. He closed the book and went down to the front door, opened it, and smiled at Gerald.

"Hey." Arnold said. Gerald went into his pocket and handed Arnold the Pataki key.

"Here you go, buddy. I told you, an hour at most." Gerald said and Arnold rose an eyebrow at him.

"Don't suppose you're gonna tell me why you wanted the key to begin with?" Arnold asked and Gerald shrugged.

"I'll tell you if you need to know, but hopefully you won't need to know, ok?" Gerald said.

"Gerald." Arnold pried.

"Dude, trust me. If there's an emergency, I'll tell you all about it, but until then, it's not important." Gerald said and Arnold still wasn't convinced. Gerald looked down at his watch.

"Uh, aren't you on the clock?" Gerald said and Arnold's eyes widened.

"Fine, at least you didn't lose it." Arnold said and he put the key in his pocket.

"Read anything good?" Gerald asked and Arnold sighed heavily.

"You have no idea." Arnold said. They said goodbye and Arnold returned to Helga's room.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! or it's characters.

Chapter 13,

**Dear Diary,**

**Well, my dad turned on the news to watch some theater get knocked down. He was excited because she they were going to build an 18-screen multiplex with surround sound, soft seats, huge screens, and best of all, high quality air conditioning.**

**I wasn't all that interested in seeing them knock down that old place, I mean, it's kinda decrepit since it's 500 years old. But imagine my surprise when I see Arnold's grandmother, all dressed up, and chained in front of the circle theater. I saw her talking to the guy driving the wreaking ball, and I didn't get a good look at him until later, but he's one of the boarders that lives with Arnold.**

**At 9:00 he hauled up the wreaking ball, and it was about to hit the building, when a limo drove up and Arnold jumped out, yelling for everyone to stop. Then the mayor stepped out and she introduced some singer named Dino Spumoni. Dad says that he's just an old crooner with a dying career. Mom says that she really likes his music, because it really speaks to her.**

**I haven't really heard his music, but when I listened to him speak, I couldn't help but smile. He really loves the Circle Theater and the memories he's made of singing his songs and punching photographers in the kisser. Which I thought was cool. It's one thing to be mean like that, even to be caught being mean, but willfully admitting something like that? That's kind of impressive. Of course, I also live in a world where Miriam thinks that she's either 'sober' or 'functionally drunk', and Bob thinks he's an easy person to get along with. Maybe it's just because they are normal people and they aren't forced to admit their own flaws. Still, if anyone can do that, then they're alright in my book.**

**Then Dino goes on to say that Arnold brought the issue to him and the mayor, so in order to save it, they declared the Circle Theater a city landmark.**

**That really angered Bob since he wanted that new theater. I told him to calm down, since they'll probably build it, but in a different location. He said that could take weeks or months, on top of the time it takes to actually build the thing. Last thing I saw was Arnold's grandmother and that wrecker smiling and patting him on the back. Maybe he made them both happy with the city landmark thing. Though, you know the mayor only did that because she's up for re-election.**

**Dear Diary,**

**I've been kinda worried about Arnold these past few days. See, he got mugged the other day. I heard rumors that his grandmother had been teaching him how to defend himself.**

**Now, I know she's a little wacky, but after seeing that old broad standing up to a wreaking ball without flinching, you just know she's tough as steel.**

**Today, I went to Arnold's because he was showcasing what he learned. I got to say, I really loved the part where he kicked a soda canoff Harold's head, because fat boy passed out. I'd be lying if I said that performance did nothing for me.**

**It's just...**

**Arnold has this look of boredom and occasional anger on his face. As much as I liked it, I couldn't help but feel like 'this is not my Arnold'. I don't want to see him scared to walk out of his house, though. I've been walking around this town alone, since I was 3 years old, and sometimes bad things happened. If Arnold needs this self-defense training in order to heal from a traumatic event, then who am I to judge him. I don't know, hopefully he'll be better by tomorrow.**

**Dear Diary,**

**Arnold showed up to school wearing his gi and he definitely wasn't himself. He pushed Eugene in his locker when he walked past. And then he scared Billy, making him scream at the top of his lungs, and he dropped all of his books. And instead of helping him up, Arnold stood there, with his fists raised, as if to challenge Billy to fight him.**

**I was shocked beyond belief. Arnold was basically acting like a bully, and that's not who I fell in love with. It's kinda odd, because I can understand exactly what Arnold's going through. He's scared and he feels powerless, so he's acting mean to overcompensate for his own insecurities.**

**I feel like I should do something, but what? If I go up and talk to him, he'll thwack me before I get a chance to speak. And you know, even if he doesn't hurt me, he's in no mood to listen to anyone. I mean, I didn't even see Gerald getting that close to him today. You know, it's like he's turned into me; or, if possible, a more violent version of me. If you ask me, the only way to get him to listen to anyone right now, is to beat him in a fight and force him to pay attention to you...**

**Oh, Criminy, don't tell me I have to do that?!? If I go up against Arnold, he'll pummel me! Of course... if I do nothing... he might stay that way forever... GRRRRRR, Dang It!!! (Sigh)**

**You know, maybe I should wait a few days before doing anything. Maybe this will clear up without my help, like when he was with Frankie G. At least that way I can give him the chance to turn back on his own; and I can give myself the opportunity to work out, in case I do need to go up against him.**

**I wonder... I wonder if I could ask Arnold's grandmother to teach me the same karate lessons she taught Arnold. That might be an insane idea, but she an insane lady.**

**Ok. I'm gonna go over to Arnold's and ask her to be my teacher. I won't take 'no for an answer, and if I need to, I'll battle Arnold myself. If he beats me to a bloody pulp, then fine. I'll just have to get up again and again until he listens to reason.**

**Dear Diary,**

**When I finally made my way to the boarding house, I saw Arnold and his grandmother walking into the building, talking about drinking tea and hot chocolate. But I got hopeful when I saw that Arnold wasn't wearing his sweatband from earlier.**

**I went over to the window, and I saw them in the kitchen. They were telling Arnold's grandfather that Arnold got his bus pass back from the jerk that stole it and made him run scared.**

**This gave me some more hope that Arnold was back to his old self. So, in the end, I decided not to ask karate grandma to be my teacher. But I think I'll check out a book about karate tomorrow, for future reference.**

**Dear Diary,**

**Mom was watching Arnold video of Olga's playing piano, and she suddenly asked dad why he never spends time with his daughter anymore. Dad was in the next room, on the phone, and I was sitting beside him, reading a magazine, so he thought she was talking about me. (Sigh)**

**Bob made a deal with some outdoor equipment store named Harvey's. They sell some of his beepers in his store, and he'll sell some of their stuff in his store. He's thinking about selling some of their new products, but he's gonna personally test out the camping equipment.**

**But now he's gonna drag me along for the ride. I asked if I could bring Phoebe and he said sure. Oddly enough she seemed rather enthusiastic about the opportunity. Dad's almost done packing this stupid looking RV, all the while talking on the phone to someone named Jer.**

**I'm kind of annoyed at the whole situation, because I know my dad doesn't really want to spend time with me. This is all suppose to trick me into thinking he's a good dad, when he's just doing this for his job and to get Miriam off of his back.**

**Oh, well. Perhaps I should at least try to go and have a good time, even if past events suggest that I'm wrong.**

**What the...? Are you kidding me? He's packing this portable fridge to take when we go hiking. Man, I bet he expects me to lug that thing around. Well, maybe if I keep telling him that I hate hiking, we won't take one, and then I won't have to wear it. I better bring you along.**

**Dear Diary,**

**You'll never guess who we ran into (not physically, mind you). We pull into our campsite and Phoebe points out that Gerald, Arnold and his grandfather were set up in the campsite right next to ours. I was shocked, but I tried my best to contain it.**

**And it's not like I thought Phoebe was lying, or anything; but I just had to see this for myself. I went outside and I saw Arnold and Gerald sitting on a log, while Arnold's grandfather burned, what appeared to be, pancakes.**

**I was so happy to see that football-headed king of my heart. I thought maybe, in this naturally beautiful scenery, maybe I could get Arnold alone and finally tell him that I'm in love with him. I kinda ran across the idea to hike up to Ophelia's Overlook. I know what I said before, but it would be worth it, if I actually got to confess my feelings to Arnold and I found that he loved me back.**

**Now, I should have known that wouldn't have occurred, when I saw the name 'Ophelia'. I mean, she loves Hamlet, but when Hamlet kills her father, she is conflicted by the love she feels for Hamlet, and her rage of him murdering her father, and the mourning of his loss, and she simply goes mad until she drowns. Not the best ending one looks for when telling someone you love, your feelings.**

**First, Phoebe and I went over to the boys, to make sure that they knew we were there. Then, it occurred to me that they would be more willing to go on a hike with us, if they are with us first. We had plenty of food, and dad liked using the grill, so it was really easy to get Bob to invite them over for some eats.**

**That is one good thing about Bob. He really doesn't mind/care about sharing food with others and junk like that; just so long as he's comfortable. Say the right things to him, and he can be surprisingly generous.I gave them plenty of food, and after they had a moment to hork it down, I suggested we use dad's new equipment to go on the hike. Phoebe almost ruined the plan, I didn't tell her, by stating that I repetitively stayed that I hated hiking. Though a little hesitant, Arnold agreed and we went on our hike.**

**I was right about carrying that stupid fridge. Yet I couldn't help but smile because Arnold (and Gerald) slowed down a little to walk with me.**

**When we finally got to Ophelia's Overlook, we started having problems. First the high tech GPS tracker Phoebe was carrying wouldn't stop beeping, so Bob tosses it over the edge. Then I opened the fridge and I see all of the food in it has spoiled. It must have gone bad way before we even got to the campsite. Bob threw that over as well, so at least I wouldn't have to walk down with it.**

**And for a brief moment, I was alone with Arnold, just like I wanted. I was trying to get up enough courage, and the right words to confess my feelings, when Bob announced that we were gonna head back to camp for lunch. Man, all that work for 5 seconds of private time with Arnold, and he didn't even look at me.**

**We started walking back and we were walking around for so long. The sun was going down before Bob shocked himself and finally told us that he had no clue where he was going. He was shouting at us and I was so scared; I thought he was about to hurt us. It's been a long time since I had felt that small and defenseless. Then I was so scared about being lost in the woods, that I started screaming.**

**But that's when Arnold calmed me down and told us that his grandfather taught them some survival skills and they could bring us back home. It was so cute when Arnold saw some berries and started eating them. Phoebe said she admires Gerald's survival skills, and I didn't say anything, but I felt the same way about Arnold. We are young, but we should try to make ourselves adaptable to any situation so that we can care for ourselves, and others.**

**Now we followed Arnold as he guided our way back to camp. Of course dad refused to eat the berries Arnold offered his, so Gerald and I ended up dragging him along with some pulling device Arnold and Phoebe put together.**

**I kinda wish that dad would have listened to Arnold. Maybe he didn't believe Arnold because of young age. Still, if I succeed in earning Arnold's heart, he's got to learn how to respect Arnold and his opinion/advice or else I would just cut my family out of my life forever. After all, there's not much glue to keep me around. Heck, maybe after running through all that poison ivy, he'll do a better job of listening to Arnold in the future.**

**But I got to say, my favorite part of this whole experience, was sitting in Arnold's campsite, roasting marshmallows and singing campfire songs together. Maybe when we're old enough, we'll go camping together and we'll have a grand time. Are camp dates a thing? I don't know, but I'd be willing to try with Arnold.**

**Dear Diary,**

**Phoebe was hanging out with Gerald today, and he told her about Arnold getting this package for a very private boarder named Mr. Smith. The other boarders said that this must be an unusual package, because the guy hasn't had any packages delivered in the past three years he's lived there.**

**Gerald went over there, since he heard from Fuzzy Slippers about the package, and he wanted to see what was inside it. But Arnold is a man of honor, and he didn't want to do that. Although, they had to do something, because the boarders were physically breaking their necks to break into Arnold's room.**

**Since they didn't know much about Mr. Smith, they went to Toller's Bowler's to get the man's work address. They snuck in, one on top of the other pretending to be an adult. That guy must have been desperate to not even question how they must have looked.**

**They got the address for Satellite Industries, so now Gerald thinks he's a spy. Of course they weren't in there long before the secretary kicked them out. They saw Mr. Smith get into a taxi and they followed him until he was up on a roof and flew away on a helicopter.**

**At that point, Gerald told Arnold they might as well open it, and Arnold clearly wanted to, but then a nun and preacher walked by and he just couldn't do it. They decided to head back to the house, hoping the other boarders forgot by then; they did not.**

**Those crazy jerks tied up Arnold's grandparents to lure Arnold into a trap. They ran up the stairs and they were almost to Arnold's room when the string on the package broke. They wrestled with the boarders, but in the end, they tore into it like a pack of starving wolves. Wow. Although knowing them, they will still act insane if that guy got another package.**

**You know, with the privacy, and secrecy, and lack of contact with the others, and yet seemingly rich person that Mr. Smith is... I almost wonder if he's actually some famous person and that's why he doesn't interact with anyone. If they recognize him, then others would find out he lives there, and he would require new living arrangements.**

**That's probably the most likely answer, but you want to know what would be cool? If there was a secret society of 'Mr. Smiths' in the city and they all use the boarding house, pretending to be one person.**

**That's why he is so private; because if they found out there's multiple Mr. Smiths over the years, then that location would be compromised. They had to wear the overcoat to hide their body shape or nationality, and they wore the bowler hat to hide the color of their hair, and they never spoke, so no one could recognize an accent, or lack there of.**

**Man, that's cool. I should totally write that down in case I get the desire to write a novel someday.**

**Dear Diary,**

**We were suppose to play a basketball game today, but almost no one showed up. It was me, Phoebe, Gerald, and surprisingly enough, Arnold.**

**Gerald kinda told us that Arnold's been having a hard time these past few days, because this obnoxious boarder, named Oskar, has forced Arnold to share his room with him.**

**Since there wasn't a lot of us there, Phoebe went ahead and asked Arnold to start from the beginning, which she didn't know much of.**

**Apparently Oskar and his wife got into another argument, but this time, she kicked him out. Having no where else to go, Oskar showed up in Arnold's room, climbed in his bed and went to sleep. Arnold decided not to make a big deal out of it, since it was just for a couple of days.Of course, Oskar quickly tested Arnold's patience's. He shut off Arnold's alarm, making him late for school. He refused to stop playing his saxophone while Arnold was studying, and then the next day he told Arnold he should have studied for his test harder. He made a terrible mess blending smoothies for his poker buddies. Friends who he invited over to play, without telling Arnold until they were knocking on his bedroom door. Oh, and he lost Arnold's CD player in a bet.**

**He tried to talk to this Oskar guy, about going somewhere else, but he blatantly ignored him. Finally, as a last resort kind of option, Arnold tried Gerald's idea of getting Oskar back together with his wife.**

**He talked to Susie and convinced her that Oskar wanted to have a candlelit dinner on the roof. It was such a romantic idea, she agreed to go. It was pretty easy and gross talking to Oskar, but he agreed to go as well.**

**Arnold set it all up, a romantic dinner with Tiki torches everywhere and the boarders playing in a live band. But it was practically wasted. They argued, Oskar kept stepping all over her feet as they danced, and when Arnold tripped, he dropped one of the cherry tarts, and Oskar ate his up instead of giving it to his wife. By that point, Susie stormed off, telling Oskar that he only cares about himself. Oskar asked what was wrong with her and Arnold said she was right about him being selfish, and then HE stormed off.**

**Then today, Arnold enters his room, and he sees Oskar packing up one of Arnold's suitcases, telling him that he was going to leave and find himself, but he did win Arnold's CD player back. When he was leaving, Susie left her room and saw him with the suitcase.**

**Knowing that he was going away, she was going to give him some money to take care of himself. But Oskar saw the look on her face and he just couldn't do it. He told her to keep the money and she just swooned. She welcomes him back with open arms and Arnold was thankful that they were back together.**

**I don't know about Susie, but if Oskar wants to keep her, he's gonna have to learn more about treating his wife the way she deserves. You know, in a small way, he reminds me of a sober version of Miriam.**

**I wonder is it's possible, that Oskar does all that gambling and such to make up for his own insecurities and failed dreams. I don't know if that would be true, though. If Oskar was having issues like that, surely Arnold would notice and try to help. Still, though, I wonder what that guy's deal is.**

That was all that Arnold could read right now. It was time for him to go and returnthe key to Phoebe. But before he left, he took pictures of Helga's diary; many more this time, and me left the Pataki home.

And speaking of Pataki's, Miriam and Stella we're walking down the street, talking about movies they grew up watching. Surprisingly enough, Miriam and Stella got along rather well. They were laughing when they came across Donald's Den.

"Well, thank you for lunch Stella, but I think it's just about time to wet the old whistle." Miriam said. Stella bit her lip and she put a hand on Miriam's shoulder to stop her from going in.

"Or we could go get our nails done instead." Stella suggested and Miriam blinked a moment.

"You know, what is your deal, anyways? You said that you'd take me out to lunch as long as I didn't drink while we ate. I did that and now you want to get our nails done, instead of getting a drink?" Miriam said and Stella nodded.

"Yes, that's right." Stella said. Miriam brushes off Stella's hand and crossed her arms over her chest.

"We can have a drink and then go get our nails done if you want." Miriam said and Stella sighed.

"If you go in there, I'm going home." Stella warmed and Miriam scoffed.

"Oh, is that all? All I had to do is get a drink and you would have left me alone?" Miriam said and Stella shrugged.

"At least for today. I'll be back tomorrow to spend time with you." Stella said and Miriam took a step back, as if she slapped her.

"What? No you won't." Miriam said with a touch of Hope mixed into that disbelief.

"You stop spending time with me, the second you bring Alcohol to your lips. We can talk, we can hang out, do our nails, go shopping, go to a movie, but if you drink, I'll leave." Stella said firmly.

For a moment, Miriam watched her, trying to decipher how she felt about all of this. Miriam's whole mood went sour, and she turned her back to Stella.

"You won't be back." Miriam said, right before she walked into the bar. Stella took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, before she pushed the door opened. She didn't walk in, but she allowed the light to shine into the dark room and she waited to speak until Miriam turned and saw her.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Miriam." Stella said and Miriam's eyes widened slightly, when she realized Stella was really telling the truth.

Stella let go of the door and she went back to the boarding house. It was frustrating that she couldn't keep Miriam away from the bar, but she did the best she could. Stella wasn't going to accept the drinking, and she won't bail Miriam out if she gets into trouble.

Alcoholics only change when they are ready to change. All she can do, is try and be there for her while Miriam makes the decision for herself.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold or it's characters.

Chapter 14,

**Dear Diary,**

**We were all so excited to see the new 'Killer Vegetables from Space' movie, because the trailer looked so good. Well, we went to see it today, and it really sucked wind. We were all so incredibly disappointed by it.**

**And when we got out of the theater, we saw the sun setting and the streetlights went on. We missed the bus, and we were at the Avon theater, so we were really far from our homes. Arnold suggested that we take a cab, but that would have cost over thirty dollars, and we only had a few nickels and dimes between the five of us. Arnold noted that our only real option to make it home in time was to ride the subway.**

**Ok, now I've walked everywhere in this town, and rode nearly every available bus route, but the subway is grimy and dirty and that's why rats love it. It's like a rodent breeding ground- ugh! I hate rats! I walked away, saying that I refused to ride the subway. Heck, it would have been better to walk then deal with all of those plague-infested fur balls.**

**Arnold walked over to me, so we could talk privately. He asked me if I was gonna let Harold show me up 'proving he was the brave one by riding the subway, when I didn't. I told him if Harold is foolish enough to think that makes him braver then me, then he better be preparing his face for a knuckle sandwich.**

**Then Arnold mildly surprised me. He put his hand on my shoulder and he said he knew I hated rats, so if it would make me feel better, he swore that he wouldn't let any rats near me. I looked at his hand, then at his genuine smile, and he easily won me over. I brushed past him, telling him to stop begging, and I went down to ride the stupid subway, even though I couldn't believe it.**

**Arnold went ahead and called his grandmother, to let her know where he was. I tried calling, but I didn't get an answer. I bet Miriam took the phone off the hook so it wouldn't interrupt her buzz.**

**Arnold seemed rather calm, but it took a while for me to relax. I couldn't stop myself from thinking about the possible rats hiding on this car. And in a strange sort of way, it also reminded me of the time Arnold, Gerald and I rode the 'haunted' train to the steel mill. Little things made me jump, almost like a I had some sort of PTSD from that experience.**

**I looked around the subway, when I finally leveled out. There was a homeless guy, who considered this his home, a man and woman sat across from me, a blind man and his dog, and then a boarded psychiatrist with his claustrophobic patient.**

**Out of everyone, the couple in front of me were probably the most 'normal', but they still creeped me out because they kept staring and whispering about me. I picked up on the woman calling me a sweet little girl, and I have mixed feelings about that. Because I'm glad they recognized me as a girl, but the staring and compliment felt unusual to me. I simply gave them a smile, because I didn't know how to react, but I knew she meant no ill will.**

**The psychiatrist told his patient, Hillary, to face her fears is the only way to overcome them. Then he had her saying 'big open spaces', while he blatantly ignored her, by reading. Newspaper. (Scoff) Man, What kind of a shrink is he, anyways?**

**I may not know much about confronting fears, but I don't think 'confronting them' is the only way to help you. Maybe I'm wrong... I mean, maybe this Hillary is benefiting from this exercise. And look at Stoop Kid; Arnold made him confront his fear and he's no longer scared to leave his stoop... he might still live there, but he can leave now. I just think that maybe there's more power in figuring out why you are scared of something, then doing something just because it scares you. That sounds too much like thrill-seeking if you ask me.**

**Gerald might have put us on the wrong train, but halfway to the Waterloo stop, I decided to go ahead and tell Arnold that taking the subway was a good idea. He smiled at me, and so did Phoebe, but I tried not to look at them. I think Phoebe was genuinely happy that I brought myself to compliment him, but we don't really talk about the fact I like Arnold.**

**Shortly after that, there was large electric sparks outside the window and the train stopped moving; throwing half of us against the wall.**

**We all kinda went off the rails, I'll admit. Even when the driver tried to calm us down, he was too scared to keep his mouth shut. Like, when you are trapped in a hole, one of the last things I want to think about if that hole being filled with water and drowning to death. He even started crying on the speaker. I had enough of the subway, and I opened the exit door, even if Arnold didn't want me too. The second I saw a bunch of rats, I slammed that door right back up.**

**I was barely holding it together, and when two-faced conductor kept switching from calm to 'all hope is lost', I finally broke down and started crying. We were trapped and most likely gonna die. If we didn't suffocate, then we would starve; if we didn't starve, we'd dehydrated; if we didn't dehydrated, we'd be crushed by the tunnel, or even drown from the water above us, or killed and eaten by the rats outside the door.**

**I could barely hear Arnold stepping towards me, wanting to do something, anything, to ease the tension; but there wasn't anything he could do. Soon the psychologist snapped, telling Arnold to shut me up, and calling Hillary a mental case when she tried to help him.**

**Then the blind man smelled chocolate, and we see that Harold was hiding dozens of candy bars on his person. We all fought over the candy, and I blamed Gerold and Harold for this whole situation. Now that I think about it, I never did blame Arnold, who wanted to take the subway to begin with.**

**Besides, we all stopped fighting when Arnold pointed out the blind man's dog wasn't well. Turns out the dog was going into labor, and Arnold helped deliver the puppies. Arnold was so fantastic, and I couldn't resist picking up one of those sweet dogs and holding them. Then, miraculously, the train started back up again and the homeless man suggested we sing, so we did.**

**When we got to our stop, a woman jumped from the roof of the train and it turned out to be Arnold's grandmother. She said she knew she was the only ex-coo in this town crazy enough to save us. She climbed down into the subway system, found a wire the rats ate through and connected them so we could move again.**

**I asked her if she was scared of the rats, and she said rats are like most other animals. If you show them whose boss, they'll leave you alone. After all, the king of the jungle ain't no field mouse. I should probably consider that, the next time I'm afraid.**

**Anyways, she figured we were all sick of riding the subway, and she paid a cab to take us all home. She even went the extra mile to get out and explain to our folks what happened. I like her.**

Arnold read this as he rode the bus to the hospital. It wasn't difficult to recall being trapped down there. Gerald coward in the corner, Harold was worried about running out of oxygen, Helga was crying, that lady said 'big open spaces' over a hundred times.

So many negativity happened, it's was forgettable that Helga complimented him, and refused to blame him for what happened. Like other aspects of Helga, it was one of her subtle ways of showing him that she was really in love with him.

When he walked into the building, he thought about some of the things he read. Helga technically didn't steal his hat, just didn't return it. She spent three hours searching for it, just so he could have it back. Not to mention the fact that she still thinks he's cute without his hat, when others think he looked terrible without it.

She constantly believes he is strong and brave, like when he stood up to the Jolly Olly man, saving Bob, Phoebe and Helga from the wilderness, facing the evil of all evils with Engine 25, convincing the adults to give them Gerald's Field back, and whatnot.

And it was also surprising how much Helga can read people. She surprisingly loves Arnold's grandmother, despite barely being around her; she knew Frankie G was bad news days before he did; and she knew exactly how he was feeling after he got mugged.

She was very smart. She even paid attention to Stoop Kid, and everything he's gone through with... Dr. Bliss... Dr. Bliss...? Didn't a Dr. Bliss visit their classroom one time?

"Hello Arnold." Phoebe said. Arnold looked up, he didn't even realize he had entered Helga's room.

"Hey Phoebe." He said, handing her the key. She started gathering her textbooks and Arnold bit his lip.

"Hey, Phoebe. I was reading about this lady named Dr. Bliss, and she sounded familiar, but I couldn't remember why I knew that name." Arnold said.

"Oh? You're already reading about Dr. Bliss?" Phoebe asked suspiciously.

"Helga wrote about how she was working with Stoop Kid." Arnold said and Phoebe relaxed.

"Oh, well, Dr. Bliss is Helga's school appointed psychologist. She sees her on Tuesdays and Thursdays." Phoebe said and Arnold blinked. Perhaps it makes sense for Helga to be in therapy, but he never really thought about it before.

"Oh, right." Arnold muttered. He grabbed Phoebe's chair, and he sat down next to Helga. Phoebe looked at him and she looked at Helga.

"You know, I think it might be beneficial for you to have a session with Dr. Bliss." Phoebe said and Arnold blinked at her.

"What?" Arnold asked and she nodded.

"Yeah. Helga mentioned several times that Dr. Bliss was kind and considerate, though she rarely mentioned what they discussed. I think you could benefit talking to her." Phoebe said.

"Oh, I don't know." Arnold hesitated. Phoebe took a deep breath and she exhaled slowly.

"I feel really strongly about this Arnold. Please don't force me to make it a requirement for you to borrow the key." Phoebe said and Arnold's eyes widened. That's right, Phoebe can change the rules whenever she wants to.

"Well... maybe I could stop by today after I'm done talking to Helga." Arnold said and Phoebe pulled out a tiny notebook and wrote down the address for Arnold.

"Here's her office building." Phoebe said and Arnold took it politely.

"It might be fun." Arnold said optimistically. This made Phoebe smile, and she left quietly; while Arnold spent the longest time staring at this address.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! or it's characters.

Chapter 15,

"And you should have seen the look on Phoebe's face when I told her I was reading fanfiction. It was priceless." Arnold said and he chuckled, but it was short lived. He couldn't help but wish she could laugh with him, but all he heard was the steady beat of the heart rate monitor. Talking to Helga did make him feel better, but he was still filled with a deep sadness.

"I... I find myself wishing... that you'd open your eyes and call me football head." Arnold said with a sad smile.

"You know, it's almost odd. I use to get so mad when you said that to me; yet you tend to call me football head in your diary, and you actually say it in a sweet way." Arnold said and he sighed.

"Maybe you'd like to walk down memory lane with me. Maybe it would be good for you to listen to this and remember who you are." Arnold said. He went over to the door and closed it, so they could have a little bit of privacy.

"Alright, here we go." Arnold said and then he started reading to Helga.

"Dear Diary, today started out real fine. A bunch of us decided to spend our day out on the dock. Although with a place right next to the water, you'd think I would have an easier time finding a saltwater taffy store. But then, I stopped when I saw my soft football headed love spending a lost Saturday on the river's edge." Arnold blushed a little. He felt a bit more nervous reading this sort of thing out loud.

"I wanted to walk over and share in his peaceful silence, but then Gerald and Sid walked over to him. It's so frustrating that I can never get a moment alone with him. He's always surrounded by that blasted geek patrol." Arnold shook his head slightly.

"You know they are pretty good guys once you get to know them." Arnold said.

"Apparently Arnold has never heard the legend of Wheezin' Ed, so Mr. King-of-Tales spun the myth for him. Actually several kids went around to listen to the story; I guess they hadn't heard the story either. But that's ridiculous, a haunted island. Besides I think treasure hunts are kinda ridiculous. The whole reason someone buries a treasure, is because they will later return and use the money for themselves. Kinda like money you save up for when you retire." Arnold paused to chuckle.

"I suppose you do have a point there." Arnold stated.

"Then Sheena's uncle Earl came up and said, if nothing else, the treasure was real. He showed us, what appeared to be a doubloon from the 16th-century, that he found in the caves. Earl said that he'd take us over to the island, and even borrow his shovel... for a cost. But everyone, including Arnold was excited to go on a treasure hunt, so how could I resist going on the trip with them?

"With some flashlights, we entered this cave that divided into three sections. When people started arguing about what direction to go, I took charge and gave a very simple answer to our problem. There were 7 of us, so it was organized and safer to pair off into teams of two, and have a spare outside to run and help us or run and get help- if necessary.

"I knew I wanted to be with Arnold, and I had a feeling Phoebe wanted to be with Gerold, which left Sid, Rhoda and Harold. But Harold was nervous and insisted upon 'Guarding' the entrance; so that made my decision easy. Each team entered their section and I noticed that Arnold was putting down jellybeans Hansel and Gretel style. I followed my clever liege... uh... perhaps a little too closely. I bumped into him and we argued a little and he took off in a separate direction.

"I was really upset. I finally get him alone, and I can't find the nerve to tell him how deeply I admired him. I suddenly became very determined and I decided it was time to tell him. I ran after him and I was out of breath and stuttering, so I just couldn't spit the words out, the way I wanted to." Arnold paused and bit his lip.

"You've tried to tell me a few times." Arnold said, though that statement almost felt like a question.

"But then we heard the sound of wheezing and there was a figure behind me. In the moment, I thought it was Wheezin' Ed, I even screamed and jumped into Arnold's arms. Now that I think about it, I'm really glad Arnold didn't drop me. I don't really know how strong he is, and it's not like he expected to carry me like that. My scream echoed throughout the cave and it brought the rest of our friends to us. Phoebe jumped in front of us, doing whatever karate or jiu jitsu she learned. But in the end, it turned out to be Brainy and we were all upset to see him." Arnold scoffed.

"Yeah, we really were, weren't we. He's always following you around. I think that's one of the few times you could have decked him and we all would have agreed with you." Arnold said, with a chuckle.

"At that point, Arnold thought it would be best to leave, but he fell down a shaft. We ran to him, but we all fell in; though I did try to save Phoebe. We landed on this freezing metallic pile and we saw mounds and mounds of coins. It was so unusual, we were all convinced that it was Wheezin' Ed's treasure. We all had fun with the money, hoarding it, playing in it, tossing it in the air; but then we took a closer look at these so-called doubloons and we realized these were actually counterfeit pennies.

"But then, those two jokers showed up and started chasing us. We all followed Arnold's jellybean trail. Somewhere along the line we run into Harold who was eating them the trail, and I was concerned that we would get lost, but somehow we found out way out of the cave.

"When we got back to the island's edge, we see the police there. I guess Sheena's uncle tried to give a busboy a nice tip and they realized it was a fake. One of the policemen towed us back to shore as the rest of them cleaned up the whole island situation. Although part of me still wonders how Brainy got to that island and why he was there." Arnold finished the entry and he looked up at Helga.

"You know, I actually saw some cave drawings on the wall, back then. Maybe he just likes to hang out in the cave." Arnold said, though she remained silent. For a brief moment, he thought of some response Helga might say about that.

"Then again, maybe Einstein is actually the descendant of Wheezin' Ed, and he actually lives out on that island, deep within the cave." Arnold said in a similar sarcastic tone Helg would have said it in, and he smiled. He looked up at Helga again and a small gasp left his lips when he saw a smile on her face.

"I love it when you smile, Helga." Arnold said, his heart somehow breaking and melting. He looked up at the clock and he blinked. He didn't realize so much time had past, and he sighed.

"Phoebe told me about Dr. Bliss. She thinks it would be good for me to talk to her. And... I don't know what time her office closes, but... I guess I should go over there and say hi." Arnold said. He leaned forward and kissed Helga's forehead.

"I'll tell her you said hi too." He whispered. He hesitated a moment, unwanting to leave Helga's side, yet somehow he managed to pry himself away. But when he got to the door, he heard a faint sound.

"Bye... Arnold." Helga whispered and Arnold's entire body started trembling. This was the first time he had heard Helga speak in over a week. Tears flooded his gaze, burning his eyes as he turned back to look at Helga. He simply could not believe his ears. He sniffles and steadied his breath to prevent himself from wailing.

"G..." he squeaked our, unprepared for such a thing.

"Goodbye, Helga... I-I'll see you tomorrow." Arnold said, and after a brief moment, Helga smiled and he smiled despite the depression he was feeling. He used his sleeve to wipe away his emotion and he left the room.

On the way back to the bus station, he was thinking that perhaps it was time to talk to a psychiatrist.


End file.
